At that time Suresh and some 150 Muslim youth had been given arms training by Pillayan under the instructions of Karuna Amman, in Welikanda area. Later Suresh surrendered to the Army.

With the departure of Karuna Amman, Pillayan has been able to take control of the Muslim groups easily, especially since he was the person who had given them military training. However, now the Muslim youths have separated into at least four groups and reportedly carry violent activities such as robberies, human trafficking etc in the Trincomalee and Batticaloa areas.

It is also learnt that Pillayan had used these Muslim youths to surround Karuna’s political offices in Batticaloa a few weeks ago.

With the increase in the activities of Muslim armed youth in the east, Sinhala underworld groups are also now rallying round the Pillayan faction in the Batticaloa district. It is learnt that Sinhala underworld figures in Manampitiya and Sevenapitiya area are now with Mangalan Master, a prominent figure of the TMVP and are engaged in various illegal activities. These Sinhala youth had for reasons best known to them joined Mangalan Master for a monthly salary of Rs 7000.

Despite other jobs been available such as in the Civil Defence Force and the Police, it is questionable as to why these Sinhala groups are rallying round Pillayan. However the authorities are still unable to take any action against this new threat in the eastern region. Reports also claim that there are several Muslim groups such as ‘Jihad’ still active in the region. The presence of Muslim armed groups in the East has been reported by the SLMM as well.

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