What a crime!

By Asif Fuard

2006 was a challenging year for the Police Department with an increase in violent crimes in the country with the recommencement of hostilities in the North East. While the Department introduced new techniques of training, technology and crime prevention methods, it could not successfully solve several prominent crimes committed in the year.

In the first six months of 2006 more than 30,000 grave crimes were recorded ranging from, abductions and kidnappings to rape, incest, homicide as well as drug related offences. Of these 9521 were disposed of, investigations of 17,242 cases are pending while another 3196 are before the Magistrate’s Court

The reasons given for the failure to solve these crimes range from insufficient evidence to files of the cases being misplaced or destroyed by parties that have vested interest. The Sunday Times looks back at the major unsolved crimes of 2006.

January
As the year started with hostilities between the LTTE and government security forces the first major incident of the year was the January 2 massacre of five students on Trincomalee beach.
Initially the police and the government claimed these students were members of the LTTE who were killed in a premature detonation of a grenade that they were about to lob into a group of government troops.

The government claims were contradicted by the local coroner, who said that they were killed by gunshot wounds in execution style. The official inquiry into this incident is still continuing and several STF personnel have been questioned but no one has been apprehended so far.

February
Controversy surrounded the abduction of 17 Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) workers in Welikanda, Polonnaruwa. While some observers believed it was a hoax by the pro-LTTE NGO to tarnish the image of the government the TRO believed the abduction was carried out by the Karuna faction.
The whereabouts of the six of the aid workers are still not known. Despite the CID probe no evidence of the abduction has been revealed to prove if the abduction was real or staged.

March
March ended with shocking revelations of Sri Lanka’s biggest ever tax fraud amounting to Rs.3.57 billion. Five people including the Deputy Commissioner of the Inland Revenue VAT refund division was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Financial Crimes Unit and the case against them is pending in courts.

The investigation is yet continuing as the master minds behind the operation are avoiding arrest and are reportedly living in foreign countries. However the culprits are still to be brought to book.

April
In the first week of April a scandal invloving the smuggling of youth to Alaska through the office of the Sports Ministry allegedly with the knowledge of Sports Minister Jeevan Kumaratunga was brought to light.

CID detectives questioned some of the victims who had been taken for a ride by the Sports Ministry officials who had promised them a lucrative job offer and then left them in the cold. There has been no breakthrough in CID investigations.

The CID is still looking for the hidden hand behind the slaying of one of Sri Lanka’s top narcotics officer’s Inspector Douglas Nimal and his wife who were killed on April 25 allegedly by Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) officers.

It was revealed that IP Douglas had been framed in a case of narcotics trafficking by a senior officer of the Department who reportedly had a grudge with him. He was arrested but later released after the Attorney General’s Department found no evidence relating to the accusations made by the CCD. His death remains a mystery to this day.

May
Eight youth who were staying overnight at the Kelathu Amman Hindu temple in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna were shot dead. Civil organisations in Jaffna alleged that government forces had been behind the extrajudicial killings on May 6. The killers are yet unknown.

On the night of May 13, 13 civilians including an infant child killed were killed in an execution style massacre in Kayts, Jaffna. According to police statements received some of the killers were clad in Navy uniform and others were alleged to be EPDP cadres.

A special CID team was sent from Colombo to look into the massacre. The CID report concluded that it had evidence leading to LTTE involvement. However Kayts Magistrate Jeyaram Trotsky dismissed the CID report saying as there was insufficient evidence to point fingers.

June
The Mannar police are yet to make a breakthrough in the massacre of a father, mother and two of their children who were hacked to death and hung on the night of June 9.

July
Lakmal Silva, a journalist and alleged government informant was shot dead in Dehiwela on the night of July 1.

It was alleged that the killing had been carried out by certain elements of the government Intelligence Unit. He was said to have been providing vital information to intelligence operatives of the government.

About five teams who were investigating the murder of this free lance journalist were reportedly instructed to cease investigations, allegedly by DIG Colombo South K.P. Pathirana. The reason for this sudden move is not known and nearly six months after the killing, it remains a forgotten story and many believe the investigation has beens swept under the carpet.

August
Seventeen aid workers of the French organisation, Action Against Hunger who were serving in Mutur were killed on August 5. The government and LTTE traded accusations against each other but little was unearthed by the CID detectives.

The deputy head of the government peace secretariat Ketheesvaran Loganathan was shot outside his home in Dehiwela by suspected LTTE gunmen. The investigation into killing is reportedly progressing but culprits have not been arrested.

September
Fifteen Muslim civilians were found hacked to death near the Radella tank in Pottuvil in the morning of September 18. The killing caused wide spread pandemonium in Ampara with the Muslims in the area organizing protests over the killing.

While the government blamed the LTTE for this brutal killing, the LTTE pinned it on the STF personnel in the area. SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem said civilians in the area also pointed the finger at the security forces. However, the government rejected a call for a UN probe on the massacre.

In the backdrop of this incident an angry Muslim mob in Pottuvil clashed with STF personnel who opened fire injuring 17 civilians. The CID has not made a breakthrough in the investigations.

October
On October 23 an armed group in Kiran had confiscated 20,000 copies of the Veerakesari newspaper being transported by bus to Batticaloa and Ampara and set them ablaze thus forcing the newspaper to cease distribution in the area. There have been no results in the investigation.

November
Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian and former Jaffna Mayor Nadaraja Raviraj and his bodyguard were shot dead by unknown assailants in Narahenpita last on Friday November 10 morning. As the nation mourned this latest tragedy, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said he was taking steps to call in Scotland Yard to track down the killers as he believed the assassination was intended to bring him and the government into disrepute.

Nearly month and a half since the assassination the CID has very little evidence and are still waiting for officials from Scotland Yard.

December
The CID is investigating if insiders were involved in the December 1 suicide bomb attack targeting Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in Colombo. However the CID has not made any breakthrough in the case or arrested anyone in connection with the conspiracy, though the original owner of the three-wheeler used in the bombing was arrested.