Con-man shot dead

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A Tamil youth who had been masquerading as a member of the Liberation Tigers in the south-eastern town of Akkaraippattu was shot and seriously wounded by the Sri Lankan Police on Friday.

He has been admitted to the Ampara hospital said Police sources.

The youth, identified as Alahuthurai Babu, had regularly engaged in extortion from local Tamil and Muslim shopkeepers in Akkaraipattu, threatening them that he was a powerful member of the Liberation Tigers.

Shopkeepers had paid up to the pseudo-Tiger on many occasions, but had found, in due course, that Alahuthurai was a local con-man.

The Police was hence informed and a trap was set for the youth on Friday. Police sources said that he was shot at when he had tried make good his escape.