Youth arrested with grenade in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 April 2004, 04:49 GMT]
A youth carrying a hand grenade and live ammunition in a fertilizer bag was arrested Thursday by Sri Lanka Army and Police personnel in Main Road at Mavadivembu, about 22 km northwest of Baticaloa town, sources said.

The youth, Mr. Parasuraman Navaratnam of Kalikovil road in Mavadivembu, was carrying 180 T-56 ammunition and 6 T-56 magazines, sources said, adding that according to the police, the youth had found the ammunition at the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam camp in Kudumbimalai (Thoppigala) when it was abandoned by the fleeing Karuna group renegades.

The Eravur police produced the youth before the Batticaloa Magistrate, Mr. M.H.M. Ajmeer, on charges of carrying dangerous and prohibited ordnance, and submitted the ammunition the youth was carrying.

The Magistrate ordered the youth remanded for two weeks, and the youth will be produced when the case is taken up for hearing on May 7, the sources said.