22 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo suburb

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 12:51 GMT]
22 Tamil youths were arrested Wednesday in Dehiwala, a suburb of Colombo, during a pre-dawn cordon and search operation by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police. The arrested Tamils were being detained at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at Kalkissa (Mount Lavinia) police station for questioning, Police said.

The search operation lasted from 3:00 a.m. till 9:00 a.m. and all residences of Tamils in Dehiwala were thoroughly searched. The vehicles plying along Galle road stretch in the area were flagged down and subjected to intense search, which caused traffic congestion.

Almost all the arrested were from Jaffna, according to the relatives of the youth.

The search operations have been intensified in the wake of bomb attacks that targeted a train, rail track in Dehiwala and the recent bomb blast in Moratuwa.