Policemen missing in east, youths take cyanide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 June 2003, 22:03 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Police personnel were reported missing in Chenkalady, 16 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Tuesday night. The two, deployed at the Eravur Police station, were riding a motorbike off duty when unidentified persons are believed to have abducted them Tuesday night, they said.

Chenkalady and Eravur were tense as Police searched for the missing Policemen, according to residents.

Police sources in Eravur said the whereabouts of the Policemen is not yet known.

They said it was not clear why the two were abducted.

Meanwhile, two Tamil youths took cyanide when an auto rickshaw they were traveling in was stopped at a Police checkpoint in front of St. Peters college in Colombo, police sources said.

Police sources further said that one of the youths died on the spot and the other was admitted to the Kalubowila hospital in critical condition. They said that a 9 mm pistol was recovered from the youths and investigations are continuing.