CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Clergyman distributes suicide kits

By Gayan Kumara Weerasinghe @ LBN

A white Toyota Hi-ace van coming from the direction of Negombo stopped on the highway opposite the premises of a business at Mabole, Wattala. Apart from the driver, there was only one other passenger in the van. This person who got down from the van had a rectangular shaped black travelling bag with him. The van, after a few minutes turned again in the direction of Negombo and sped away. The watcher of the business premises situated on the opposite side was closely watching the situation. Meanwhile, Civil Defence Force personnel were carrying out checks nearby.

The watcher observed the person who got down from the white van growing uneasy because of the ongoing checking. He placed the bag on the ground and attempted to slip way unobtrusively. The watcher growing suspicious began shouting. In response, the suspect took to his heels. The two Civil Defence soldiers who were checking too gave chase and succeeded in catching him. The suspect was handed over to the Wattala police and the Bomb Disposal Unit was summoned to search the black bag.

Black bag

Preliminary questioning revealed that the suspect was a Tamil man from Vavuniya. The black bag which he had brought was searched by the Bomb Disposal Unit. It contained two latest ash colour suits worn by suicide bombers, each weighing nine kilograms bearing distinctive numbers SR 001 and SRP 006, eight electronic detonators, four non-electronic detonators, six timers used in time bombs, a remote controller used in claymore mines, two white boosters and six batteries. In addition the bag contained a document written in Tamil describing the method of exploding the bombs.

Following preliminary investigation, the suspect was referred to SSP Anura Senanayake in charge of the Colombo Crimes Division who nominated a special police team to interrogate the suspect at length.

At the outset, it was revealed that the suspect was Velupillai Kankadaran, a resident of Pulthottam, Vavuniya who first denied any knowledge of the incident other than the fact that the bag was handed over to him by a Christian priest in Nuwara Eliya who instructed him to take it to Wattala and hand it over to a person by the name of Suresh who will call over.

Arrested

Meanwhile, upon alerting all police stations and police posts throughout the island the white van in which the suspect came to Colombo and the driver were arrested by 12 noon on the same day at the Kala Oya check point in the Puttalam police area. The van was heading for Mannar driven by a person by the name of Arumugam Nagularasa, a resident of St.Sebestian Place, Periyagamam, Elthur, Mannar. The van and its driver were brought to the Colombo Crimes Division on the same evening.
The suspect was interrogated by the Colombo Crimes Division. The suspect confessed that he was a Christian priest of an evangelist organisation in charge of the Mannar area and operated as a social worker in his area while supporting the LTTE.

Colombo

The church of this priest is situated in a coconut land in Talpadu Sunny village in Mannar. It is a hut made of zinc sheets. A feast lasting a few days was conducted at his church recently. A holy mass was also conducted. A few Christian priests from different areas including Nuwara Eliya and Karavanella attended this feast. He had undertaken to take these clergymen back to their respective homes. As an active member of the LTTE, from time to time he came to Colombo. For such journeys, the LTTE purchased van bearing No.57-7399 for a sum of Rs.1.3 million. It was bought from a Tamil person from Periyakallar, Kalawanchikudi, Batticaloa. Its original owner was Seiyadu Lebbe Mohammed Naleem of Kalmunai. This van had changed hands several times but none of the new owners including the suspected clergyman had bothered to get the van registered with the RMV under their ownership.

LTTE explosives

In addition to this religious mission work, he was assigned to use the van for the transport of LTTE explosives from the North to the South. The van had secret caches built under its seats to carry these explosives.

There were Intelligence Reports that the LTTE was planning several suicide bomb attacks in Colombo. Therefore the special feast was organised as a camouflage to transport suicide bomb kits.
He planned to implement this mission on February 01, immediately after the feast was over in the guise of taking back the clergmen to their respective homes. His mother too traveled in the van on this journey. But none of them knew that they were carrying explosives and suicide kits concealed under the seats of the van. This was only known to his companion Velupillai Kankadaran and himself.

As planned on February 1, they reached Nuwara Eliya and spent a few hours in the house of one of the clergy men who came from there. Meanwhile, the chief Christian priest Nagularasan Velupillai and his companion Kankadaran came to Amman Kovil Road, Nuwara-Eliya and handed over two of the suicide kits he carried under the van’s seats to an LTTE activist as arranged previously and came back to the clergyman's house at Labukelle and picked up his mother and the other priests who were brought to Colombo, and dropped them at their respective homes at Karavanella, and Torrington, Colombo and took the mother to a certain place in Wattala. It was after that, that he removed the suicide kits from the caches and handed them over to Velupillai Kanakadaran in a traveling bag to be delivered to the person prearranged.

Meanwhile, in Mannar the Army and Police jointly searched the church of Nagularasa and from the van parked in the verandah recovered three kilograms of high power C4 explosives. When the church and the land were further searched they recovered three more suicide kits, six magnetic explosive devices two claymore bombs, 12 batteries and two ladies' bathing costumes. They were found buried.

According to investigations made so far, the suspect has transported a large quantity of explosives to Colombo and at least 12 suicide suits. This is in addition to suicide suits delivered to an LTTE activist in Nuwara Eliya.

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