No reward yet for informants

The men who detected the suicide kit parcels in the lagoon at Palavi in Puttalam are unhappy that they have not received anything as a reward for the information supplied to the police. Raphael Francis of Palavi complains that on January 20 he and three others who went fishing detected some parcels dumped in the lagoon and passed the information to some soldiers travelling in a tractor.

The parcels which contained suicide kits were probably planted by the LTTE. But contrary to their expectations the men did not receive any reward or even a show of appreciation from the authorities.

H M Suresh and Janith Dinidu of Palavi and A Premaratne of Pottuvillu were the others - all workers at the saltern - who detected the parcels and gave the information resulting in Puttalam police arriving and getting statements from them.

It was natural for the men to expect a reward for giving the information, but to date nothing has been forthcoming. When a complaint to this effect was referred to Puttalam police HQI Y. G. Gunaratne his reply was that necessary documents were being referred to higher authorities for necessary action.