Two tamil policemen arrested

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 September 1998, 17:59 GMT]
Two Tamil Policemen, accused of spying for the Liberation Tigers were arrested yesterday in Batticaloa by the office of the Deputy Inspector General Police of the district. Both men were handed over to the local Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) by the arresting authorities.

The Police officer in Batticaloa who took the two constables into custody declined to reveal their names. However, he said that both are from the village of Karuveppankerni on the northern outskirts of the Batticaloa town. He alleged that they were regularly in communication with the Liberation Tigers and that they may have met the rebels in their stronghold in the district's western hinterland.

The two Tamil PCs have also been accused of taking bribes from civilians.

Meanwhile, a co-ordinator of Sarvodaya, one of the largest Sri Lankan NGOs, was arrested by a special team of the recently formed Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) in Kalmunai, 39 kilometres south of Batticaloa on Sept.16 said NGO sources in Batticaloa.

The Sarvodaya co-ordinator, Kandaiah Kanakaratnam, is now under detention in Colombo. Sources said the TID team had come from Colombo the day before to make the arrest. Informed Police sources in Kalmunai said that he was suspected of purchasing a cellular phone for the Liberation Tigers and also for harbouring a member of that organisation. Another Sarvodaya official said that he was arranging a peace conference in Colombo that was scheduled to be held next month.