Haul of LTTE military hardware recovered from Jaffna

Police and Special Task Force (STF) personnel recovered a large haul of military items suspected to have belonged to the LTTE from Uduppiddi in Valvatiturai, Jaffna on July 4. Valvatiturai is the native village of LTTE supremo Vellupillai Prabhakaran. 

Valvatiturai police had received information that a haul of military items were stored inside an abandoned well in the Uduppiddi area. Thereafter, the police had informed the Point Pedro Magistrate's Court and had obtained a court order regarding the matter. They had then gone to the location with officers from the STF Camp in Jaffna and recovered the items. 

A large number of items had been found inside the well after it was drained. These include 69 LTTE-manufactured 'Aghasti-69' hand grenades, 11 rounds of 60mm mortar, 25 'Para' rounds of 60mm mortar and four mortar fuses. 

It is suspected that the military hardware had been buried by LTTE operatives during the war. The items had become severely corroded due to exposure to water over a long period of time. As such, police obtained a court order from the Point Pedro Magistrate's Court to dispose of the items. 

The items were destroyed in a controlled explosion in the Uduppiddi area. 

Story and Pix by Romesh Madhusanka

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