Three held on chemicals charge

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 July 1999, 20:14 GMT]
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested three civilians today, on the charge of possessing some chemicals which could be used for manufacturing explosives. Two of the detainees were Tamils of Periya Porathivu and the third person was a Muslim from Kattankudy in the Batticaloa district, residents said.

Kumarasamy Visvalingam, Kanapathipillai Ketharam and Ahamedlebbe Abdul Samoon have now been taken into custody by the Counter-subversive Unit of the Batticaloa Police.

The suspects were arrested by the STF personnel attached to the Kurukkalmadam checkpoint when they were waiting with two bags of chemicals, for a boat to cross over Ambilanthurai lagoon to go to the west part of Batticaloa, sources said.

The detainees told the police that the chemicals in their possession had been brought down from Colombo for polishing gold jewellery.

But the police insist that the chemicals they recovered from the suspects, were intended for manufacturing explosives.

The Batticaloa Police have sent the chemicals to Colombo for a government analyst to submit a report.

Police sources say that the suspects would be held until the government analyst's report arrives.

In the meantime, the co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) based in Kalmunai has brought this matter to the notice of the Batticaloa unit of the HRC.