A Tamil group was sent to Europe on a SL Defense Chief’s mission

A group of 9 Tamils who were arrested in Italy by the police of that country on suspicions of refugee status seekers have disclosed that they were there to fulfill a mission of a SL defense chief, reports say.

Because of this disclosure a Diplomatic crisis had been sparked. Italian police sources say that this is reminiscent of how Karuna Amman was sent to Britain illicitly with the backing of Govt. high officials.

The leader of this group is Arumainathan Krishnajegan, a 22 year old youth whose birth place is Chaavakacheri. Kajitha Ranjinathan, another youth is also in the group. Given below are the names of those who were arrested.

Arumainathan Krisnajegan (22) – Chavakacheri

Gopala Krishnan Pakula Krishnan (20) – Chavakacheri

Kajitha Ranjinathan (23) – Jaffna

Sivanesharan Kokiladas (31) – Kareinagar

Damarugajani Siridaran (26) – Jaffna

Stalinrasa Dhushyanthan (29) – Jaffna

Dharmagunasigham Dhsuhyanthan (24)- Manipay

Edward Jesujeysan (27) – Pesalai

Nandakumar Udyaputhiran (25) – Uduvil

This group during the final phase of the war had crossed over to the civilian population area from among the LTTE. They were among the many thousands who were taken into custody by the Army as suspected LTTE cadres. This group had told the Italian police that they were to be given instructions as to what they should do by an individual whom they were to meet in Italy.

They have stated that they were brought to Katunayake Airport by a Minister‘s subordinate. They were arrested in Palarivo city railway station in Italy.

The ‘chief’ who came to meet them when they were arrested was an individual named Krishnan, a worker in the SL Embassy in Italy. This individual earlier was the leader of the campaign collecting monies in Italy for the ‘api wenuwen api’ program of the State defense Ministry of SL, reports say.

When we inquired from Major General Prasad Samarasinghe whether this group was dispatched with the knowledge of Defense Ministry bigwig , he totally denied the allegations as false.

All those who surrendered to the Army or those who were arrested were handed over to the rehabilitation camps . None of them was kept in the custody of the Army . After rehabilitation they were released. Whether they went to Italy after being released by illicit routes is a matter beyond his knowledge , the Major General stated.. The latter added that he would be able to give more information after he has inquired into this fully.