Tamil trader abducted in Karaveddy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2007, 16:58 GMT]
Unidentified armed men driving a white van abducted a young Tamil trader in Karaveddy, Vadamaradchchi, Friday night at 10:30 p.m. The relatives of the victim have lodged complaint at Nelliady police and at the Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC), sources in Point Pedro said.

The victim has been identified as Kandasamy Komaleswaran, 25, a resident of Vigneswara College Road, Karaveddy.

The young man was forcibly abducted from his home by the armed gang, and when the family members raised cries they were threatened at gun point, relatives said.

A white van was seen moving around the area a short while before abduction and the youth was forced to walk up to the vehicle before being taken away in the same van.

Nelliady town is located 5 km southwest of Point Pedro along Point Pedro-Jaffna road.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops conducted an extensive cordon and search operation in Vadamaradchchy Saturday morning in the villages of Vathiri, Alvai and Kottavaththai.

Hundreds of young family men and women were taken from their homes to a public ground for questioning where they were paraded before masked men and later released.

No official details of the civilians taken into custody is available till Saturday afternoon.

The houses in the area were subjected to intense search by the troops during this operation.