Prabhakaran cannot flee - Navy

Rafik JALALDEEN

The Navy will not leave any room for LTTE leader Prabhakaran and his associates to flee the country by sea.

Highly fortified naval defence lines and a high tech system has been placed to monitor the LTTE movements, Navy acting media spokesman Commander Mahesh Karunaratne said.

He said there were some media reports drawing attention of the local and international communities to the possibility of the LTTE leader and other senior Tiger cadres escaping by sea.

Addressing the media yesterday, Commander Karunaratne said that the Navy had played a major role in preventing the LTTE activities and maritime operations during its last three decades.

”The Navy thwarted LTTE arms smuggling the operations and other activities in sea. This includes the destruction of more than 10 LTTE vessels in 2007. Naval troops have made a tremendous contribution in combating LTTE terrorism to-date,” he added. He reiterated that the LTTE leader or any single leader will not grab an opportunity to leave the Island via sea.

The naval troops are on surveillance to track the LTTE movements round the clock.

“Using all sources and advanced technology, we have established a highly fortified defence line from the Trincomalee harbour to Kankesanthurai.

We also fixed high frequency radar to detect the LTTE cadres’ movements in the Northeastern coastal belt. Therefore, the LTTE leader or his associates have ‘NO’ chance to flee by boat,” he remarked. He further said that the naval troops on patrol are screening each and every displaced civilian coming from the uncleared areas by boat. “We know who is a terrorist and who are the innocent civilians. Once we identify the LTTE cadres, we destroy them,” he added.

Around 500 boat loads of civilians who fled from LTTE captivity are under Navy custody.