Sri Lankan security forces arrest 11 during searches in Vavuniya

by Thusiyan
Jan 27, 2020

At least 11 people have been arrested after the Sri Lankan army launched two days of search operations in Vavuniya this week, as security continues to remain tight in the Tamil homeland

Stop and search operations were conducted in Puliyankulam, Omanthai and the other adjoining areas of Vavuniya, though the police and army did not cite any specific reason for launching the operations.

Officers with sniffer dogs were photographed stooping buses as they travelled through the towns.

The Sri Lankan military claims to have found several kilograms of cannabis and timber, which it claims was unlawfully cut.

The arrests come as similar operations were launched in Jaffna last week. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankan soldiers continue to be deployed across the Tamil North-East, where security remains heavy, despite more than a  decade since the end of the armed conflict.

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button