Sri Lanka: More than 18, 000 police and army in Colombo

Monday, 03 December 2007

Just over 18,000 police and army personal have been deployed by the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry to run a security sweep of Colombo and surrounding areas. House to house searches were conducted and motorised vehicles were thoroughly combed in the combined search operations by the two forces during the weekend. More than 1, 500 Tamils youths were taken into custody by midday on Sunday.

Of them, just over 100 who are originally from the Jaffna peninsula have been transferred to the Boosa Camp for "special interrogation".

A majority of the arrested are Tamils of Indian origin from the upcountry.

Prisons and police stations in and around the capital are suffering from sever overcrowding, Upcountry Peoples Front parliamentarian P Radhakrishnan. The Ceyl

on Workers Congress (CWC) which also represents the upcountry Tamils in parliament is yet to comment on the latest roundup of its people.

There are widespread speculations here that the upcountry Tamils are carrying out espionage for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

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