40 Tamil civilians arrested in Polonnaruwa, Chilaw

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2008, 18:48 GMT]
Forty civilians, most of them are Tamils were taken into custody in two separate cordon and search operations conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police in Polonnaruwa and Chilaw police divisions. All are being detained in police stations and being interrogated by the Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID).

Twenty five civilians who are residents of Vavuniyaa and Vaalaichchenai were taken into custody in Polonnaruwa and its suburbs including Muslim settlement in a search operation conducted Sunday from 3:00 a.m till 9:00 a.m by the police SLA soldiers. All rice mills were searched and majority of them arrested had been employed in these mills as laborers.

Fifteen persons including a woman who are residents of eastern province and in Colombo were taken into custody in another search operation conducted in Udappu, Aandimunai and Selvapuram in Chilaw division Sunday morning.

Fishing huts located along the coast of these villages were search by the police soldiers of the SLA. Most of them arrested had been employed in the fishing huts, sources said.