Suicide jacket and Tiger cadre in custody: Some startling findings
Posted on April 1st, 2016

Suspect’s move facilitated by soldier’s bro
Lethal haul moved to Chava on Sunday night
LTTE combatant, others planning major attack

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Lethal cache found on Wednesday

By Shamindra Ferdinando

An LTTE cadre now under interrogation had brought a suicide jacket, four claymore mines, three parcels containing about 12 kgs of TNT, two battery packs as well as 100 rounds of 9mm ammunition to a safe house in the Meesalai area, Chavakachcheri, in the Jaffna on Sunday night.

The police identified the suspect as Edward Julian alias Ramesh (32).

A raiding police party on Tuesday (March 29) night found the armaments in a room. The suspect hadn’t been present at the time of the raid, sources told The Island.

The police arrested the suspect at a check point at Wannerikulam in the Kilinochchi District.

Authoritative sources said the recovered armaments hadn’t been among arms caches left behind by the LTTE at the conclusion of the war in May 2009. Sources said that Chavakachcheri had been liberated during 1995/96 period and was subjected to many ‘security sweeps’ over the years.

Jaffna-based sources said that a woman who had been living with the suspect had complained to Chavakachcheri police that he kept cannabis at home. She was identified as Amudra. The suspect had warned the woman not to enter the room, sources said, adding that the two had often quarrelled as the man had an extra marital affair.

In addition to the police, the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), too, is probing the Chavakachcheri detection.

The informant had been married before and the LTTEer was her third partner. If she had not been assaulted by the main suspect the woman might not have alerted the police, sources said.

Investigations have revealed that the suspect had moved into the safe house in January last year with the help of a person identified as Sivadarshan. Chavakachcheri-based sources said that Sivadarshan had been employed as a heavy vehicle driver and was responsible for facilitating the main suspect securing a safe house. Both Sivadarshan and the main suspect had worked for a Jaffna-based company for about two years.

After having worked as a mason for several months, the suspect had bought a mini truck and subsequently a motorcycle, thereby causing suspicions among the people, sources said.

Sources said the LTTE had recruited suspect as a child soldier at the age of 13 while he was studying at a school at Murunkan, Mannar. According to his family, there had not been any contact with him until he re-emerged after the demise of his mother at the Tellipalai hospital in 2013. The family had believed that Julian had perished during the battle for Puthumathalan in April/May 2009.

Sources said the suspect had lived at Chullipuram, Jaffna with his first wife before leaving her and moving to Meesalai with the help of Sivadarshan.

Sivadarshan has disappeared in the wake of the main suspect’s arrest. Well informed sources told The Island that Sivadarshan’s brother was among those recruited to the Army during the previous administration. After the LTTE had been brought to heel, the previous government resumed recruitment of Tamil soldiers in accordance with an overall plan to promote national reconciliation. The soldier is based at a main camp in the Northern Province was likely to be questioned, sources said, adding that Julian seemed to be an important operative in a well-organised group determined to carry out a major attack.

Authoritative sources told The Island that investigators would try to establish whether the main suspect had been in touch with rehabilitated LTTE cadres. Since the conclusion of the conflict, approximately 12,000 LTTE cadres had been released following rehabilitation. However, thousands had not undergone rehabilitation and, therefore, posed a severe threat; sources said, adding that the main suspect was among those managed to shun rehabilitation programme.

The government is expected to review post-January 2015 presidential poll security measures in the Northern Province in the wake Chavakachcheri detection.

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