Abducted Batticaloa Tamil girl escapes in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 August 2008, 10:00 GMT]
A nineteen-year-old Tamil girl who was abducted by an unidentified armed group on Tuesday evening in Batticaloa town escaped at Cinnamons Garden in Colombo Wednesday evening while being taken in a bus along with some abducted girls from the east, sources in Colombo said. The girl was taken into custody by police in Wellawatte when she was going to her relative's house in Wellawatte afer escaping from the abductors, according to police sources in Colombo.

She told the police during interrogation in Colombo after her escape that an armed group took her by force into a vehicle when she was walking near Batticaloa library on Tuesday evening.

She saw four girls already seated in the van which proceeded to Kallady first, she told.

Later all were put in a bus and were taken to Colombo.

However, she had escaped from the bus at Cinnamons Garden in Colombo.

Thereafter she took a three-wheeler to her relative's house in Wellawatte.

Police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara in Colombo told media Thursday that she is in the custody of the Wellawatte Police and would be handed over to the CID for further investigation.

The abduction came to light when the three-wheeler in which she was traveling to her relative's house in Wellawatte was stopped and searched, police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara said to media Thursday.