A 'white van style' abduction of a Tamil youth which sparked fears in Jaffna was an arrest made by plain-clothes officers, Sri Lankan police have said.
A Tamil youth waiting at Jaffna bus stand was bundled into a white van on Tuesday evening. The incident which took place at rush-hour following the end of the working day had sparked fears in Jaffna, exacerbated by reports of spates of arrests in the run-up to Maaveerar Naal.
As news of the abduction spread, Koppay police announced on Wednesday morning that the alleged abduction was a case of plain-clothes officers making an arrest.
Koppay police said they had received tip-offs that 17-year-old Kajabalasingham Nitharsan was a member of the ‘Aava’ gang and an informant for the group.
“We had tried several times to arrest him, but each time he would escape,” a Koppay police spokesperson said.
After receiving a tip-off that he was waiting at Jaffna bus stand on Tuesday evening, plain-clothes officers arrested him in a van and brought him to Koppay police station, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that with Mr Nitharsan being investigated, police had been able to gather a lot of information on the Aava gang. Koppay police claimed to have recovered a motorcycle and a sword used in a recent attack in Manippay from a search of Mr Nitharsan's home.
Despite the police denial that the incident was an abduction, Jaffna residents have criticised the manner of the arrest and other police activities, which local groups have said are designed to intimidate Tamils in the run-up to Maaveerar Naal.
