Civilians arrested in Kandy still under detention

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 February 2007, 18:04 GMT]
Fourteen civilians including nine Tamils, three Muslims and a Sinhalese arrested in a cordon and search operation conducted by the army and police covering Kandy bus stand area following a bomb scare on Friday evening are still being detained in Kandy police station and being interrogated by a special police team, sources said.

Of the three Muslims one is a woman. Tamil suspects are all natives of Jaffna or Vavuniya, and were taken into custody when they were returning to their temporary residences after attending Maha Sivarathiri poojah in the Hindu Temple located in Kandy town, sources said.

The police arrested them even after they showed their national identity cards issued by the Department of Registration of Persons to prove their identity, civil sources in Kandy said.

However, Police said they are conducting investigation to find out whether these suspects are involved in terrorist activities in the central province.

Chronology: