Attack
on storage complex ruled out
The special police investigators who probed the landing of a para,
(a device used by the forces to light up a location) in the Kolonnawa
Petroleum Storage Complex premises, has dismissed any possibility
of an attack on the complex.
A para had
landed in the Kolonnawa Petroleum Storage Complex premises at about
1.15 p.m. on November 1 and was reported first to the security guards
of the complex by an individual who lives nearby who described it
as a red-orange flame in the sky.
Officials point out that the relevant authorities had failed to
call in the Government Analyst to the scene of the incident to identify
the device as only the Government Analyst would have all the required
facilities to conduct a proper identification process of the para.
The military
bomb disposal team which arrived at the scene has so far submitted
inconclusive reports that the remnants of the para that landed at
the complex were not sufficient to determine whether it was a para
used by the military.
According to
eyewitnesses the para has come towards the complex from the direction
of the Veluwana school and the newly built Shasrapura flats. Petroleum
Corporation officials said that though the device could not have
penetrated an oil storage tank it could have caused a fire if there
was a leak in the tank close to which the para fell.
They also added
that it is advisable to set up a police or military security post
in the high-rise Shasrapura flats as the entire oil storage complex
can be viewed from the top of the building. |