SL police arrest 48 Tamil workers in Polannaruwa

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 October 2005, 10:36 GMT]
Fourty-eight Tamil persons, all rice mill workers, were arrested by Sri Lankan police in a cordon and search operation Thursday evening. Police sources said that they got a tip-off alleging that Liberation Tigers cadres have infiltrated the area. More than 500 policemen participated in the search operation. Polannaurwa police sources said that the arrested men were released Friday after registration and documentation of their identities.

The arrested workers were released only after they were thoroughly interrogated, civilian sources said.

Paramilitary cadres operating with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) have been concerned about the newcomers into the interior villages of the SLA controlled Batticaloa-Polonnaruwa border where paramilitary safehouses and camps are located, civilian sources added.

Nordic truce monitors recently visited and verified the existence of paramilitary camps in interior villages in the SLA controlled Polannaruwa-Batticaloa border.