Twenty police arrests following transformer blast

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 July 1999, 16:59 GMT]
Police in Mathala are reported to have arrested 20 youths during a two day search operation in the area following an incident in which two electricity transformers were destroyed in bomb blasts.

Sources said that 16 of the 20 are still being held in custody.

The chief police official in the city. A. C. Happu Aratchi, said that they were questioning anyone who had failed to register their names with the police. He further warned that anyone entering Mathala city should register their names with the police without fail.

A human rights worker said that it was not unusual for the police to cite petty reasons for arrests.

The police usually arrest anybody they want and then either deny making the arrest or claim that the individual's permission to stay in the city had expired, the human rights worker added.