Sunday, October 03, 2004

Tigers want 10 of theirs for two Home Guards By Amadoru Amarageewa, Trinco

The LTTE has sent a letter to the Ceasefire Monitoring Committee in Trincomalee with the names of ten LTTE cadres whom they want in exchange for the two home guards who are presently in their custody. These ten men are presently under remand custody.

The ten LTTE cadres are those who had been taken into custody in Batticaloa on two occasions. Their real names and the names used by the LTTE are indicated in the letter.

The eight LTTE cadres who had been taken into custody on July 14, 2003 while they were bound to Karadiya Naru by a vehicle are as follows: Sivanathan Thiruman Vanam alias Thamilisai, Vinayagamoorthi Shyamala alias Sudarwili, Navarathnam Manjula alias Thilakadevi Navaratnam Pumidamalar alias Nerkochai Kadiresapilai Rajikumar alias Rajigan, Kopalasingam Dayanandan alias Daya, Sridharan Sudakaran alias Kannan, Thyagarasa Muralidaran alias Kankalan. They were arrested with the firearms they had in their possession.

The other two who were taken into custody on July 7, 2003 while they were riding a mobike at Valachchenai Ottamawadi with a hand bomb in their possession. They are Sandiridasa Jayaweera alias Piyos Rajendra and Wadivel Sandira Kumar. The place of arrest and the offence committed are indicated in that letter.

Tigers have indicated that they are agreeable to release the two home guards with the fire arms if the ten Tiger cadres are released with fire arms and hand bombs.