By Indika RamanayakeA top LTTE cadre, who is believed to have fixed the bomb in a vehicle that was blasted at Digampathana, killing more than 100 naval ratings, has been apprehended in Vavuniya.
The suspect, who is 48 years old, had originally worked at a garage in Mullaitivu and it has been revealed that he had also worked in a garage in Kilinochchi owned by Pottu Amman and was the person who had fixed the bomb to the vehicle that was blasted in October 2006 in Digampathana.
Police said a special team from the Central Province had apprehended the wanted man when he had been getting ready to flee the area.
The suspect told his interrogators that all the suicide vehicles had been prepared in that garage. Three months prior to the attack, the LTTE activists had handed over the vehicle ‘The Canter’ to the suspect, which was believed to have been fitted with 150 Kilogrammes of explosives.
Upon completion of the job of fixing of the bombs, the vehicle had been given a new coat of paint and had been used in normal transport work for more than a month in Dambulla area. It is believed that the vehicle had been used in that manner to allow the people to get used to it and to gather information.
According to Police sources it had been after gathering such information that the attack had taken place on a line of Navy buses on October 16, 2006.