Sri Lanka police arrests 3 Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 18:45 GMT]
Ten Sri Lanka Secret Police personnel arriving in a white van Wednesday morning arrested three Tamil civilians in Maddakkuzhi (Mattakkuliya) area in Colombo and took them for interrogation, according to a complaint made to Deputy Minister P. Rathakrishnan by relatives of the arrested civilians.

The arrested were identified as Vasanamuthu Chandrasegar, 30, the father of two children and a resident of Welligoda, Nadarajah Ramesh, 34, an auto driver and a native of Colombo, and Ravichandran, a native of Jaffna.

Deputy Minister Rathakrishnan who contacted the high level police officials said that the arrested civilians will be released soon after the interrogation.

Many Tamil youths were arrested in the past week in Fort Railway Station and Kotahena area.

Deputy Minister Rathakrishnan requested the Tamils to carry their documents of identification and to avoid night travel and High Security Zones, as security measures have been tightened due to the forthcoming Independence Day celebrations in Colombo.

Most of the main streets in Colombo have been closed for public traffic with increased security measures.

Intensive searches have been launched by Sri Lanka Armed Forces and police in Colombo.