Following information and pressure from the public, four Sinhala members of a paramilitary squad were arrested by SL Police on Wednesday from a ‘safe-house’ at Kokkuvil in Jaffna, news sources in Jaffna said. One of those detained was a former Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) person. Two of the arrested were from Ja-Ela and the remaining two were from Angkoda and Kottawa from the South. Legal action was not taken despite the news of their detention was exposed by the local press, Tamil legal activists said adding that most of the members of a similar squad, known as ‘Avaa’, arrested last year at Thalaiyaa’li in Kokkuvil have now been either released or bailed out. The remaining three persons, including the leader of the squad, are waiting to get bailed out of police detention this week.
The Avaa group was affiliated with the occupying Sri Lankan military in Jaffna.
The SL military intelligence ‘outsourced’ a section of its covert operations to the Avaa group. The squad was deployed to carry out assaults, harassments and threats on student leaders of Jaffna University, civil activists and politicians.
The identity and the modus operandi of the ‘Avaa’ squad was exposed after a clash in Moo’laay.
The SL police had recovered military uniforms and ammunitions (2 hand grenades).
Initially, the SL police attempted with a false propaganda that former LTTE members were behind the squad. However, the public was well aware of the group as many people had witnessed SL military officers openly visiting the ‘safe-houses’ of the Avaa group.
The latest arrest of the ‘Dillu’ group also comes after pressure from the public.
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