Exposed: The Southern cells of the LTTE terror network

(ORIGINAL POST PUBLISHED ON Friday, 16 February 2007. COURTESY DAILY NEWS )

Exposed: The Southern cells of the LTTE terror network

BLASTS: The entire country was puzzled when five bombs exploded almost simultaneously in Kiribathgoda, Wattala, Rajagiriya, Nugegoda and Dehiwala on January 24, 2006. No one was injured in the relatively minor blasts which took place at night.
The explosions that rocked the suburbs that day remained a mystery as Police could not make any breakthrough in their probe.
However, they came to the conclusion that a single organisation was behind all five explosions.
As time passed those low-scale explosions turned into a trivial matter not only for the people but also for the Security Forces and the Police as suicide bombs dominated the entire scene overshadowing all the other incidents in Colombo.
But there was a worrying factor for the Security Forces and the Police.

The second batch of the Revolutionary Liberation Organisation comprising, 1. Dinesh Buddhika Kalapalage alias Jagath, Talapalakanda, Deniyaya. 2. Gunaratna Adhikari Mudiyanselage Priyantha Goonaratna alias Parakrama, Udagammana, Divulapitiya. 3. Weerakoon Mudiyanselage Suranji Pradeep, Meetotamulla, Wellampitiya. 4. Mannadhi Pathirannehelage Sarath Janaka Manamendra, Divulapitiya. 5. Jayaratna Mudiyanselage Udaya Shamal Costa, Pahalabiyanwila, Kadawata. 6. Mohammed Lalith Seneviratna, Hokandara, during their visit to Elephant Pass.

The recovery of claymore mines one after the other in Colombo and suburban areas put them in an uneasy situation.
Those claymore mines posed a major threat to civilian life given the situation that arose after the Kebithigollewa bus bombing. But the people were fortunate enough as none of these claymore mines could do any harm. The Security Forces connected the LTTE to all these incidents since it was the only organisation which promotes violence to achieve their so-called objectives. Therefore, the Security Forces and the Police doubled their alertness towards disruptive elements in the country consequent to the two bus explosions in Nittambuwa and Hikkaduwa which killed several innocent civilians and injured many more. They detected more claymore mines, weaponry and ammunition and patiently monitored the situation.At last the Security Forces made a breakthrough that solved all those puzzles.


Acting on a tip-off received by the 112 Brigade and after a months long investigation and exercise of patience, the Army arrested Mohammed Lalith Seneviratna alias Mola Seneviratna, a former JVP activist who unsuccessfully contested the 1994 General election along with Ajith Kumara for the Gampaha district under JVP banner.

Along with Mola Seneviratna two more suspects Sudu Hewage Nihal Serasinghe alias Ragala Nihal, a resident of Rajagiriya who was married to a Tamil woman from Ragala and Mayadunne Arachchige Sisira Priyankara, a resident of Panadura and the treasurer of the leftist Trade Union of the Railway Department were also arrested.


The arrest of Seneviratna and Sisira Priyankara triggered controversy in trade union and media circles in Colombo due to their media and journalistic backgrounds. Many media organisations and trade unions jumped to the conclusion that an innocent journalist and a trade union activist have been arrested or rather abducted by unidentified men.
However, Seneviratna and Priyankara proved their guilt in their confessions to the Army, completely silencing the people and the organisations that hastened to blame the Government and the Security Forces without examining the background of these people.
Seneviratna revealed how he formed the Revolutionary Liberation Organisation when he lost faith in the path adopted by the JVP after entering Parliamentary democratic politics.

The prime aim of their organisation, in their words, was to “prevent the country from falling into the hands of imperialists” and they firmly believed in an armed struggle to protect the country.

Though some years passed after the formation of the organisation they failed to form a constitution. However, the organisation had several co-secretaries for administrative, political, military and intelligence.

It increased membership through their family links, trade union links and media links. According to latest revelations they have used street dramas and drama training centres to recruit new members. The most shocking part of his revelation was the path they selected to approach their goal. Mola Seneviratne explained how he developed contacts with the LTTE through a person called Ravi and how they received training in weapons and use of explosives from LTTE Intelligence Wing deputy leader Kapila Amman.They revealed how three batches of their organisation comprising 12 people underwent training in weapons and use of explosives with the LTTE in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.The photographs show the second batch of the Revolutionary Liberation Organisation undergo weapons training in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu with LTTE members.

This threesome admitted that their organisation was responsible for the following crimes:
*Placing of claymore mine near STF camp, Ganemulla
*Placing of claymore mine at 9th Mile Post, Mahara
*Placing a claymore mine and a time bomb aiming an Army vehicle in Koggala
*Exploding time bombs at Kiribathgoda, Wattala, near Castle hospital, Nugegoda and Dehiwala
*Placing of time bomb at Radawana
*Exploding a time bomb at the IOC Filling station at Piliyandala
*Throwing a hand grenade at IOC filling station at Mount Lavinia
*Throwing a hand grenade at IOC filling station at Kadawatha

In addition Seneviratna has also admitted that he worked as a freelance journalist for Minister Mangala Samaraweera from 1996 to 1998. They have received claymore mines, weapons and explosives from Tiger cadres and have distributed those weapons, claymore mines and ammunition among their members.They fell into the hands of the LTTE and became a cat’s paw of the LTTE in the South. They helped the LTTE to accomplish what they could not otherwise have achieved in the South.

The most alarming factor is that the LTTE had used this organisation to collect intelligence on vital economic and military centres in the South. Apart from the supply of weapons and ammunition the LTTE has also sent funds worth Rs.1 million and in turn the organisation invested money at various business establishments.
One such business establishment was found in Kadawatha area and steps have already been taken to freeze these assets by obtaining a Court order.After these three key suspects were handed over to the Terrorist Investigation Division, the Criminal Investigations Department made another eight arrests after February 8. The TID arrested two men from a hideout in Nivitigala, two from Habaraduwa, two from Kadawatha and one from Kotadeniyawa. The TID arrested Priyantha Nugawela, an employee attached to the Railway Department and his brother-in-law, a conductor who assisted Priyantha to conceal ammunition buried in their compound.

Sanjaya Sugathchandra of Kuleegedara, Kotadeniyawa a friend of Suranjith Pradeep of Wellampitiya and Priyantha Gunaratna of Divulapitiya both of whom have been trained in weapons and use of explosives were arrested at a hideout in Nivitigala Police area on February 13.The TID on February 9 also arrested the Grama Niladari of Balawela, Badalagama Sarath Janaka Manamendra who had undergone weapons training under the LTTE in Kilinochchi.

In addition, Hewadadallagodage Keerthi alias Podi Malli of Habaraduwa was also arrested by the TID on February 12 and based on his interrogation Ravindra Lasantha Kumara of Habaraduwa too was arrested. Police recovered one pistol with 13 live bullets.The TID also recovered weapons cleaning material and a 21-metre long detonator cord from Sisira Priyankara’s house in Panadura. Sisira Priyankara who was the President of Left oriented trade union of the Railway Department has played an active role in the recent strikes in Railway Department. Police recovered one micro pistol with six rounds of live ammunition from his locker at the Railway Department in a search carried out subsequent to his arrest.A further recovery was made on February 12 from the principal suspect Lalith Seneviratna which included a USB drive, a computer and a hard disk.

The USB drive contained the photos of the principal suspect and his group members taken during LTTE military training and during their visit to Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass.
The CID and the TID has deployed more teams in search of the members who had gone missing.
Though initially it was believed that this organisation comprised only Sinhalese, more roots have been found in the estate sector too with the involvement of estate Tamils. The organisation was in the process of increasing its membership in many parts of the country by training new recruits after deploying those who had already undergone weapons and explosive training with the LTTE.

Therefore, it is believed that the organisation could have been used as the cat’s paw of the LTTE to carry on their activities in the South using trained Sinhalese as their agents, hoodwinking the Security Forces and the Police.

Further interrogation of these suspects has revealed that they have been engaged in planning a big calamity in the South in the coming days specially on the day CFA is due to complete five years (February 22). But it is not yet confirmed what type of disaster they had planned in the South.
Therefore, the credit should go to the Security Forces and the Police for exposing such a terror group even though unfounded and baseless allegations are levelled against them without a proper knowledge of what is going on.

Certain foreign INGOs and organisations are in the habit of the blaming the Security Forces for violating the human rights and making Security Forces and the Police responsible for so-called abductions.
And even some politicians knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly have become a part of the LTTE stage-managed campaign against the Security Forces, jumping to the conclusion that the Security Forces have violated human rights.

Setting aside their slogans at demonstrations and protests, it should be questioned whether they have made a proper and impartial analysis of the whole situation.
In the final analysis even the Southern media also have become a part of the LTTE propaganda machine to discredit the Government, Security Forces and the Police as the LTTE in a very subtle way has used them to achieve their aims.

The most prominent feature in this campaign is that these media organisations too are playing a vital role in promoting the cause of the LTTE by sympathising with the people who have been “abducted in white vans” as they say, without making any effort to find out their background.

The most amusing factor is that all these so-called abductions have been perpetrated by people arriving in white vans. According to Government Defence Affairs Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, the idea is to give the impression that Government and the Security Forces are behind these so-called abductions.
What should be uppermost in the public mind at this moment is to see whether there was any complaint from a single political party or organisation to suppress them as had happened during the terror period in the late 1980’s. So far no political party or organisation had made any complaint against the Government. The only worrying factor they were having is the so-called abductions.

When going deeper into these allegations, it is obvious that the LTTE was indirectly behind these agitations though several organisations are in the front line.The prime aim of the LTTE is to prevent the Security Forces and the Police from arresting suspected LTTE cadres who had arrived in the South from various parts of the Wanni with ulterior motives. The LTTE made use of Southern politicians and also the Sinhala civilian organisations so effectively to cover up their attempt to launch a surprise attack on the Colombo Port.
These politicians and civil organisations coupled with certain media organisations are still making an effort to blame the Navy saying they have fired upon innocent fishermen.

In fact, they are still playing to the tune of the LTTE managed campaign, to cover up their plan which they launched using the fishermen to guide the LTTE boats to the Colombo Port. However, the Navy still stands firm that the arrests made by them were correct given the number of weapons recoveries they made after the detection of the boat. It is high time for the public to think twice before jumping to hasty conclusions about the steps taken by the Security Forces and the Police and keep faith in them since they have so far taken the correct measures to strengthen the security of civilians. And they should be grateful to the Security Forces and the Police for taking effective measures for creating a more secure environment for a peaceful life.