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‘Eelam War’ relic sheds 100 kg of TNT after 17 years
View(s):Police have revived a 17-year-old probe after the recent detection of explosives hidden inside a lorry used by the Tiger guerrillas during the “Eelam War”. The detection was made when the Kotahena Police were trying to move a lorry which had been under their custody and was due to be auctioned following a court order. The lorry was parked at an abandoned playground used by a school, but the explosives weighing over 100 kg concealed in the bottom of the vehicle, had remained undetected.
An explosive find: The lorry that contained the TNT. Pix by Indika Handuwala
Kotahena police Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Chief Inspector (CI) Hemantha Ovitigama told the Sunday Times that while a backhoe was trying to move out the remains of the lorry, two boxes of TNT explosives had fallen off. “The boxes were well concealed in the chassis bar and were not visible. We immediately called in the Special Task Force to carryout a search. They found six more boxes containing explosives.”
The explosive-laden lorry was initially found parked at the Sama Viharaya, Bloemendhal, Kotahena, after suspected LTTE cadres had sought and obtained the chief incumbent’s permission to park the vehicle there. The chief incumbent had passed away a few months earlier, prompting the others in the temple to check the vehicle which had no claimants.
At least 75 kg of explosives were detected when the vehicle was first found. However, no further search on the vehicle had been carried out. “We are now trying to find out why the army which checked the vehicle, did not detect the remaining explosives, for which there is a separate investigation on,” the officer said.
Chief Inspector (CI) Hemantha Ovitigama
After the initial detection, the Criminal Investigations Department conducted their investigations and arrested six persons, who were later released for want of evidence. “However, with this detection, we will now have to check on these persons again,” he said.
Since the initial investigations, Kotahena police has had eight different OICs, but the explosives had gone undetected.
He said a Government Analyst’s report has been called for on the detection.