TID Investigates: Were LTTE-Era weapons supplied to southern crime gangs?

By Bhagya Silva

Colombo, July 30 (Daily Mirror) - Colombo Additional Magistrate Pasan Amarasena today granted permission to detain for 90 days three suspects arrested on allegations of possessing and renting out weapons stockpiled during the LTTE war period to members of the Southern underworld and criminal gangs.

The suspects, Kariyak Premal Ramesh, Anthony Fernando Wickrama and Mohamed Raseek were ordered to be detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

TID officers informed court that the three suspects were arrested based on information revealed by a suspect who was taken into custody by the Kiribathgoda Police on July 21, along with a T-56 assault rifle, a magazine containing 30 rounds of ammunition, and 5.65 grams of the narcotic drug “ice.”

TID officers further told court that investigations had uncovered plans to transport the T-56 rifle from Vavuniya to the Colombo area, hand it over to a third party to commit a crime and then return it to Vavuniya afterward.

Based on information extracted during interrogation, a team of officers from the Vavuniya Crimes Division arrested two other suspects with close links to the main suspect. They were taken into custody in the Neriyakulam area under the Settikulam Police Division.

Police also seized a weapons cache hidden inside the house and garden of the suspects. The recovered items included 86 hand grenades of various types, 321 rounds of live ammunition compatible with a T-56 assault rifle, three sidearm magazines and 5,600 narcotic pills.

Officers told court that investigations are ongoing to determine whether these LTTE-era weapons were being stockpiled to commit crimes in the South or if they were being rented out to underworld figures and organized crime groups in return for money.

Therefore, the TID requested permission to detain the suspects for further questioning in connection with these findings.

Taking the facts into consideration, Magistrate granted approval for detention.