Sri Lanka Army, police and the Terrorist Investigation Department are jointly conducting raids at the selected houses in the villages of Trincomalee district and have arrested 220 Tamil males and females, according to various sources.
The SL Police said 160 persons have been detained, but local people said the number of arrestees is not less than 220, who have been detained from their houses in Cheanapuram, Kiliveddi welfare centre, Thampalakaamam, Anpu-vazhi-puram, Paalaiyoottu, Nilaaveli, Pankulam, Eechchilam-pattu, Paddimeadu and Kumpurup-piddi.
The occupying Sri Lanka Army, Police and TID are on a joint operation since Saturday and they are entering listed houses and arresting Tamils from those houses without giving any explanation.
Even the people who have been arrested do not know what their fault is. They are only ex-members of the LTTE but now they do not have any link with that movement.
“They are doing it only to harass us”, says mother of a detained man.
Sources said ex-LTTE members who had left the movement more than 10 years ago have also been arrested.
Of the detainees, there are some who have returned from Tamil Nadu and some were detained earlier and released through legal process for reunification with their families.
The detained men have been sent to Sevanapitya SLA camp in Welikanda and the women have been taken to Poonthoaddam camp in Vavuniyaa, police said.
-Eelam Nation-
