SLA arrests 9 upcountry Tamil youths

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2008, 18:50 GMT]
Nine Tamil youths were arrested Wednesday morning by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with the help of three masked men during a cordon and search operation in Kirkil Estate in Uva Paranagama in the hill country, civil society sources in Colombo said. This was the first time the state armed forces had used masked men for their search operation to arrest upcountry Tamil youths.

Tension prevailed among estate community when they saw high presence of armed forces and police with three masked persons.

Local residents identified two of the masked men as residents of the estates, who had previously lived in Colombo. The third was identified as a girl from outside the estate.

The arrested, M.Premnath, 23, S. Prabagaran, 23, G.Sivakumar, 23, S.Pulith, 24, R.Selvaretnam, 30, R.Chandrakumar, 31, R.Chandramohan, 31, S.Ramar, 41, and S.Kumar, 38, have been detained in the police station.