11th June 2000

By Alia

Poser for traffic chief

Here is a poser for DIG Camillus Abeygunawardena, the friendly top cop in charge of traffic at Police Headquarters. Easily, he is one of the most knowledgeable on traffic matters in the country.

A motorist was copped by Traffic Police at Maharagama and served a ticket. His offence? He had fog lamps fixed to his bumper.

The man who had run the vehicle for eight years with those fog lamps turned to a senior police official in the area. The man with a great sense of righteousness responded. That was a mistake and matters were sorted out. But then came the truth – the traffic cops were charging both offenders and non offenders to meet a target that has been set for them by Traffic Headquarters.

As one wag remarked, "it's a relief to know that people handling crime at PHQ do not set targets to round up those responsible for murder."

Over to you, Mr. Abeygunawardena !!

Shocking messages

Army Signals personnel were in for a shock a few weeks ago.

They intercept radio messages between unknown LTTE groups. They had infiltrated the Palaly high security defence complex and were operating from secret locations.

The infiltrators have been responsible helping LTTE cadres to fire mortars on to their right targets. censored

Medical supplies from TN

Intelligence sources confirm that the LTTE had succeeded in unloading several boatloads of medical supplies, smuggled across the Palk Straits from Tamil Nadu.

Two of these boats, however, were destroyed by a Navy patrol in recent weeks.

Absentee

Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte was a notable absentee at ceremonies last Wednesday at the Presidential Secretariat to mark War Heroes' Day.

Rajpal Abeynayake's Column

Editorial/ Opinion Contents