16 civilians arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 17:57 GMT]
Sixteen civilians, majority of them Tamils, were arrested in a four-hour cordon and search operation conducted in Colombo city by Sri Lanka's security forces Saturday. Twelve of them were taken into custody for alleged involvement in terrorist activities, police sources said.

The operation which began around 7 a.m. lasted nearly four hours, police sources said.

About 16,500 persons were interrogated and about 5000 vehicles were subjected to close checking during the operation, police said.