CID detectives have virtually bared the conspiracy behind the July 24 attacks on the Sri Lanka Air Force Base and the adjoining Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake. 

However, Punya de Silva DIG (CID) is keeping the latest findings a top secret for fears that revelations may prompt wanted persons to go into hiding. 

Early this week, a guerrilla suspect in custody made a confession about the existence of a safe house. 

Although he first said it was located near Puttalam, the man led the detectives to a house in Negombo. There the detectives found two suicide kits and a collection of pistols. 

The manager of the safe house was taken into custody. 

After interrogating him, detectives swooped on a house in Trincomalee and arrested his wife. 

She held two cellular phones that provided further clues. The woman, a vital link in the investigation was flown to Colombo in an SLAF aircraft since detectives did not want to take a chance bringing her by road. 

Help group

Intelligence sources say the LTTE has formed a "Thunai Padai" or Help Group numbering nearly three thousand cadres in the Wanni. 

They were being deployed in the Pooneryn area to build underground bunkers near Sangupiddy jetty, the gateway to Jaffna peninsula across the lagoon. 

The Group members are being paid Rs 100 per day in addition to being provided with meals. 

Tigers ride bomb bulls

How do the Tiger guerrillas beat security checkpoints of the Army or the Police to smuggle explosives ? 

The answer is quite simple. They used bullock carts. 

This is how the guerrillas smuggled explosives past Army and Police check points through Kovil Adi and Jayapura areas in Kinniya to carry out the attack on a Navy bus on May 23 this year. 

The attack, it has now been revealed, has been carried out by five males and six female cadres. 

Helping to plan the attack by providing intelligence and executing the smuggling operations were members of the LTTE's "Weera Pandiyan" reconna-isance group. 

Latest additions

A fleet of new mo- tor cycles and a state-of-the-art video edit suit are said to be among the new items smuggled into the country recently by Tiger guerrillas. 

Insiders say the consignment was landed in an area in the north east coast after they arrived on a cargo ship over 100 nautical miles off Mullaitivu.