“She was arrested on charges of harbouring a criminal. She was produced in Kilinochchi Magistrate’s Court and will be brought in Colombo today for further investigations,” SSP Ajith Rohana said.

Meanwhile, foreign media reported as having said by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that the woman, Balendran Jayakumari was being punished for repeatedly protesting over the fate of her son, an under-age rebel who disappeared in the conflicts, which was rejected by the police.

Police said that she had been harbouring the LTTE suspect even before he fired at the Police officer last Thursday.

Issuing a statement, Army spokesman said that they have found a F-3 type Metal Detector which is used to detect metal objects/mines buried underground when the house where  the LTTE suspect was hiding was searched followed by the arrest of the house owner Balendran Jayakumari.

The young daughter of the house owner was also taken in to protective custody as there was no adult in the neighborhood willing to give shelter to her, he said.

The statement said:

A team of law enforcement officers conducting an investigation into recent distribution of hand bills in the north by LTTE propagandists with a message detrimental to national unity have trailed a known ex LTTE cadre named Gobi who had escaped from Vavuniya Welfare Centre immediately after the end of conflict.  On reliable information that the suspect was hiding in a house in Killinochchi area, on 13 March 2014 the team went to arrest him.  The suspect who was in possession of a gun opened fire and escaped wounding an officer who is now hospitalized.

When the house he was hiding was searched a F-3 type Metal Detector which is used to detect metal objects/mines buried underground was found in the premises.  The owner of the house a woman named Balendran Jayakumari was taken into custody for harboring an armed criminal wanted in connection with an ongoing investigation.  Her young daughter (a minor aged 13) was also taken in to protective custody as there was no adult in the neighborhood willing to give shelter to her.

The woman was produced to the magistrate courts and has been detained after following due legal procedure.

The allegations made by Ms. Ananthy Sashidharan and other politicians with vested interests that this arrest was carried out as the suspect was one of their supporters is incorrect and totally baseless.  Such misleading statements are politically motivated and we reject these attempts to hide the truth.  The actions taken by the law enforcement authorities are well within the existing legal framework and are carried out to ensure peace, territorial integrity and national unity.