17 Tamil civilians arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 20:35 GMT]
Seventeen Tamil civilians including three women were taken in to custody Tuesday in a cordon and search operation conducted in Wellawatte area in Colombo by the police with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). All of the detainees were natives of north and east provinces and had been working in shops and staying with their relatives, friends and some in lodges in Wellawatte to go abroad, human rights sources said.

They are now detained in Wellawatte police station and being interrogated as some of them had failed to prove their identity and provide satisfactory reason for their stay in the location, police sources said.