Properties of uprooted in Vanni plundered with SLA assistance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 05:55 GMT]
Muslim and Sinhala traders from Southern Sri Lanka are actively plundering the properties abandoned when the people of Vanni were forced to leave them during war, with the assistance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers occupying Vanni. The traders make huge profits transporting them in vehicles to Vavuniyaa, Anurdapura and Puththa’lam for sale. The plundered goods include iron objects, spare parts dismantled from abandoned vehicles, house fittings and other valuable things. SLA soldiers are given a percentage of the profits made by the traders for allowing them to plunder and transport the goods of the people in Vanni to the South, sources in Vanni said.

SLA authorities in Vanni, in response to the complaints of the resettled civilians, have stopped with putting up notices of warning against thefts in their area.

The plunder and transport of the goods of Vanni people take place most where there are SLA camps close by, the sources said.

Just after the war, the traders from South made a lucrative business in plundering the spare parts dismantled from motor cycles, tractors, trucks abandoned by their owners in Vanni.

The stolen spares are now being sold in the open markets in Vavuniyaa, Anuradapura and Puththa’lam.