Temple robbed in Jaffna during SLA curfew

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2009, 16:44 GMT]
An armed gang plundered Thursday night a Pi’l’laiyaar Temple, during Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) imposed curfew hours, in Moo’laay area in Valikaamam, and took away gold jewellery and cash worth 20 million rupees, sources in Jaffna said. Robberies of this nature carried out during curfew hours and SLA’s persistence refusal to lift the curfew in Jaffna peninsula, claiming that robberies would increase if the curfew is lifted, has raised suspicion of SLA complicity in the robberies, among the residents of the peninsula, the sources added. Meanwhile, extortion by intimidating phone calls has resumed in Jaffna targeting rich traders, lawyers and university lecturers.

The statues and other valuable items found in the Pi’l’laiyaar temple too had been robbed Thursday night.

A couple of days after the temple robbery in Moo’laay, armed men had forcibly taken the motorcycles of two persons in two separate incidents, in Moo’laay area at gun point.

No one has been arrested either in the temple robbery or the motorcycle robbery.

Intimidating phone calls demanding money made to wealthy persons in Jaffna town and other places in the peninsula have increased in number.

The anonymous callers threaten that the persons targeted will be abducted in white vans if they do not comply with the demand.

These robberies during SLA imposed curfew hours and intimidating phone calls to several rich persons have created shock and fear among the residents of Jaffna.