Army deserter remanded for selling weapons in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 15:10 GMT]
The Chavakachcheri Magistrate, Mr.P.Subramaniam, Thursday ordered remand for an army deserter till December 18 when the Kodikamam Police produced him in court on a charge that the suspect had sold a T56 rifle and live rounds to four Tamil civilians before decamping from Jaffna district, legal sources said.

The suspect army deserter, Mr. Asoka Lakshman Ranasinghe, had been arrested by the Sri Lanka Army last August at Minneriya in the Polonnaruwa district while engaged in pavement business. Later, he was handed over to the military police. After inquiry he was taken to Jaffna and handed over to the Kodikamam police for further action, police told the court.

The Kodikamam Police told the court that the suspect had sold his T56 rifle and some rounds of live ammunition for a sum of Rs 24,000/= to four Tamil civilians who had been residing along the Kodikamam-Varani street and thereafter the suspect had disappeared from Kodikamam SLA camp leaving his military uniform where he worked, legal sources said.