GL arrives at CID for questioning

Former Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris arrived at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) this morning to give a statement regarding certain comments he had made on the discovery of explosives and a suicide jacket in the Chavakachcheri area.

Police officers recovered a suicide jacket, 4 Claymore mines, 3 parcels containing around 12kg of TNT, 2 packets of 9mm ammo (100 bullets) and 2 battery packs used to detonate the claymore mines from a residence in the Maravanpulo area on the A32 road on Wednesday (March 30).

A suspect, believed to be the house owner who fled during the police raid, was arrested in Kilinochchi while the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) has commenced an investigation. Police had suspected that the recovered explosives had been hidden by the LTTE during the war as similar weapon caches have been found buried in the war zone in the past.

However, addressing a press conference the day after the discovery was made, Peiris had claimed that the explosives were to be brought to Wellawatte for a high profile attack.  Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi later said that the former Minister would be questioned with respect to the investigation on the find.