Vilachchiya incident:

Police sets record straight

Senior DIG (North Central Province) and other senior police officers in the region, intervened to defuse a tense situation in Vilachchiya on Tuesday due to some misunderstanding between a team of Special Task officers to arrest some treasure hunters and residents.

Police Media spokesman SP Ajith Rohana said following a tip-off received by the Police Headquarters that a certain group was due to excavate an ancient archaeological treasure found four years ago which had been buried in the area, a special police team led by an STF ASP was rushed to Vilachchiya to arrest the suspects.

On seeing the police team, a group of people who were engaged in digging the earth at Sivalapitiya, Vilachchiya around 3pm escaped leaving some flowers, betel leaves and other offerings.

Thereafter, the police team thinking there had been valuable artifacts buried at the site, took steps to excavate the spot deploying a backhoe machine. Residents in the area then rushed to the spot and created an incident misunderstanding the police exercise.

The informant who led the police team was also taken into custody by the residents and was later freed from their clutches after much coaxing.

Later, senior police officers led by DIG (NCP) visited the scene and defused the tense situation.