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Gone robbing while reported missing
By Asif Fuard
A former army soldier whom his family members claimed had disappeared while working in a senior military officer's residence was reported to be a member of an underworld gang involved in robbing cars and breaking into houses, Police investigations have revealed.

The ex-soldier identified as Buddhika Ruwan Jayawickrema was working at the Battaramulla residence of the present security forces commander in the east Major General Nanda Mallawaarachchi before he went missing since August 2002.

The former soldier was traced earlier this month while employed at a coconut mill following a tip off to the Veyangoda police. The Veyangoda Inspector P.S. Jayamaha told The Sunday Times that he received a telephone call saying the soldier was hiding in this mill.

"He was working as a labourer in the coconut mill at the time we carried out the raid", Inspector Jayamaha said. Police investigations have also revealed that even though the former soldier's family was aware that he was alive the former soldier's father had proceeded with the Habeas Corpus application implicating Major General Mallawaarachchi in the disappearance of the army deserter.

Police have uncovered evidence of the ex-soldier's involvement in a series of robberies including a robbery in Dambulla and during a stay in the remand prison had associated with another notorious criminal.

The former soldier's father had lodged an entry at the Welikada police implicating the Major General. Subsequently he had lodged an entry with the military police as well.

The soldier had gone missing after a sergeant assigned to the Major General had allegedly slapped the soldier when he was found accessing a porn site on the Major General's computer. The Major General was out of the country at the time of the incident.

The soldier had initially known the Major General when he was the Regimental Commander of the Sri Lanka Light infantry and the soldier had claimed that his father was crippled after he met with an accident. He had pleaded with the Officer to get him re assigned as he could visit his father who was ill at their home in Matugama.

The claim by the soldier was later found to be false as his father was injured after a fall from a coconut tree. The Habeas Corpus application was due to be taken up on November 3, but on the previous day the Veyangoda Inspector had informed the Major General about the arrest.

On the day this soldier was apprehended the Major General had come with his lawyers and confirmed to the police that this was the soldier who suddenly disappeared. The investigation has been handed over to the CID.

Meanwhile moves are underway to press contempt of court charges against the father who filed action in courts while being aware the son was alive as far back as six months before the Police found him.

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