Katunayake: CID digs out full shocking story

In mid March, last year, when Victor Dominic, an expert driver, turned up at a Tiger guerrilla base in Kokkadicholai, on the outskirts of Batticaloa, his handler Charles Master, took him before senior leaders.

They commended him for successfully executing his part of the task during an attack in Colombo on March 10, last year. That was the day a group of guerrillas in camouflage uniforms, posing off as soldiers, waited in ambush at an abandoned house near the Castle Street roundabout, parallel to Cotta Road.

After placing claymore mines on the roadside facing outbound traffic from Parliament, they waited on the ready with rifles, machine guns and anti-tank weapons (Situation Report – March 12, 2000). It is now confirmed their target was Deputy Minister of Defence, General Anuruddha Ratwatte. Even the security forces chiefs would have been vulnerable because Parliament was debating budgetary allocations for the Ministry of Defence and the monthly extension of the state of emergency.

Safe House One, the residence of Victor Dominic at Kattuwa, Negombo.

Plans misfired after the house owner walked in unexpectedly, spotted the guerrillas and alerted the Police. Whilst Special Task Force commandos shot dead one, another guerrilla blew himself up blasting explosives inside a suicide jacket he wore. Six others fled, as they were hotly pursued, to the Serpentine Flats in Borella. Later Army commandos, trained in aircraft hijack and rescue procedures, stormed the flats and shot one dead. Others detonated their explosive laden suicide jackets and were blown to pieces. Two flat dwellers were also killed in the mayhem.

It has now come to light that some of the guerrillas were whisked away in a van driven by Dominic. He had brought the group in the same van to the scene.

Safe House Two, where the Ratnasingham family and Pushpakumar lived. It is located barely 100 yards from Safe House One at Kattuwa.

After showering praise on him, guerrilla leaders said they had another assignment for him. He was asked to lease a house, with secure walls and parking space for vehicles, in the Negombo area. He was also asked to purchase a bus, obtain a route permit and operate a transport service between Negombo and Colombo. Whilst doing so, he was told to await further instructions.

When Dominic arrived in Negombo, in late March last year, Rahulan, a guerrilla logistics man handed him bundles of one thousand rupee notes. He obtained a house on long lease at Kattuwa in Negombo. He purchased a Mitsubishi Rosa bus for Rs 1.5 million. After obtaining a route permit, the bus plied on the Negombo-Colombo route carrying passengers. He played the role of a bus owner and did not rouse any suspicion in the neighbourhood.

Playing the role of the driver was Ravindran Selliah, another driver, who knew Colombo's intricate road network very well. When Babu, the assassin of late President Ranasinghe Premadasa, consorted comfortably with personal staff at his private residence "Sucharita," in Hulftsdorp, it was Selliah who drove him around.

The Isuzu Elf bus used in the attack.

In the latter part of May last year, Dominic was shrewd enough to sell the Mitsubishi bus. He not only recovered the cost of Rs. 1.5 million but made an additional profit of Rs. 500,000. From the proceeds, he purchased an Isuzu Elf bus (62-4920). He had to pay only Rs. 600,000 since the owner had transferred to him a loan he had obtained from a finance company to pay for the bus. Dominic invested the rest of the money in a plot of land in Trincomalee, where he and his wife lived. Though a native of Manipay, Jaffna, he had worked as a lorry driver there.

The intelligence boss of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Pottu Amman, had ordered 55 year old Kanagasabay Ratnasingham, his wife, three sons and a daughter to move out from Jaffna and reside in Negombo. They arrived there in 1998 and lived for two years in a house in the Negombo area. Ostensibly, Mr. Ratnasingham earned his livelihood by selling gift items in the pavements of the Negombo town.

Within weeks of the arrival of Ratnasingham family in Negombo in 1998, they were joined by Pushpakumar alias Munsoor, a hard core Black Tiger guerrilla. That was his nom de guerre. His real name was Nirmala Ranjan and he was from Tinnelvely in Jaffna. A senior cadre, he had been trained in martial arts, intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and counter surveillance. From the time of his arrival, he had been living with the Ratnasingham family.

After Pushpakumar's arrival, Mr. Ratnasingham was bold enough to visit the Negombo Police Station to add his new visitor's name to the list titled "Declaration of Particulars Regarding Residents/Householders," a document which almost entirely Tamil nationals are required to obtain from their area Police Station. Usually a copy is issued to the householder whilst another copy is maintained at the Police Station.

Mr. Ratnasingham told the Police that Pushpakumar was his own son and had him registered as Ratnasingham Pushpakumaran. For almost two years thereafter, Pushpakumar carried out a secret assignment with the help of two other guerrilla cadres, Kutti and Kannan. They were conducting surveillance on the Sri Lanka Air Force Base and the adjoining Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) at Katunayake.

Maps and diagrams of the various locations were sent regularly to an LTTE Command Centre in the Wanni. Using this information Pottu Amman and his men built a complete model of the airbase and the international airport. Black Tiger guerrillas went through rigorous training with instructors using the model to point out areas to infiltrate and attack. For almost two years, the men were being trained not only to carry out the attack but also on how to react if they were caught. Shocking enough, no state intelligence agency had an inkling of what had been going on.

Just a week before Dominic arrived at the Kattuwa house, Rahulan, the logistics man had obtained another house nearby on long lease. He had the Ratnasingham family, including Pushpakumar, to shift to this house. From the time this family arrived, Rahulan had been paying all their expenses. Mr. Ratnasingham was pretending he was a small time businessman. Like Dominic, his family also did not rouse any suspicion in the neighbourhood.

Though living in two houses, less than 100 yards apart, Dominic made no contact with Pushpakumar or the Ratnasinghams. Both sides dealt only through Rahulan. And that was almost all the time via cellphones.

Dominic's residence was Safe House One and Ratnasingham's Safe House Two. These were the two centres from which the worst incidents in Sri Lanka's 18 year long separatist war, the July 24 Black Tiger attacks on the Sri Lanka Air Force base and the international airport were carried out.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has, within a short period of four months, achieved a formidable breakthrough in the biggest ever investigation it has carried out so far. Beginning from scratch, with no intelligence inputs but only some trivial clues, the detectives have not only unravelled how the attack was carried out, but also laid bare startling details of how the LTTE resorted to ingenuous methods to attack vital targets.

DIG (CID) Punya de Silva, had detailed over 60 detectives. They functioned as groups under Director CID, SSP Asoka Wijetilleke, Deputy Director, SSP Sisira Mendis and other officers. Police Chief Lucky Kodituwakku held a weekly Monday conference to review progress and draw in other Police agencies for follow up action. Similar nightly conferences were also held by DIG de Silva.

The devastating guerrilla attacks at Katunayake and follow up investigations drew considerable attention among Police forces world-wide. This came during the 16th Interpol symposium in Lyons, France, where CID Director Wijetilleke was voted Chairman on a proposal by the US delegation. The September 11 attacks in the United States had focused attention on terrorism and the Sri Lankan experience, particularly the attacks in Katunayake, became a key topic.

As reported in these columns (Situation Report – August 21), cellular numbers written on the back of an Icom communications set, found in a thicket near Raj Fernando Stadium (adjoining the airbase), led detectives to some interesting revelations. The cellular phones had been obtained by the guerrillas under Sinhala names.

The most remarkable breakthrough came due to the perseverance of ASP Ravi Waidyalankara, an officer trained in telephone analysis by Britain's MI 5, who directed the probe by seven different groups into communication aspects. A piece of paper pasted on to the back of the communication set bore three phone numbers. Sweat resulting from constant handling of the set had faded the lettering. The last line was obliterated leaving only two phone numbers identifiable. That led to frustration after detectives found the numbers belonged to cellular phones which the attackers used to talk to each other.

CID detectives would only say the use of some advanced technological methods thereafter gave them the first breakthrough. They are keeping this aspect a secret until a few loose ends connected with the investigations are completed.

And the revelations it brought forth are startling. Rahulan, the logistics man and the attackers, used six cellular phones, three each from two leading Colombo cellular phone operators. They were used almost entirely for cadres to contact each other.

In turn, a shocking revelation is the fact that Pushpakumar was in contact with an LTTE command centre in the Wanni. They had positioned a powerful antenna in the Wanni to link cellular phone calls via a tower that serviced the Anuradhapura area. From time to time, the Command Centre received reports from Pushpakumar and gave him instructions to be passed down to the attackers.

The use of cellular phones began in July this year, only after LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, decided to go ahead with the attack on the airbase and the international airport. Whilst on a visit to Wanni, Pottu Amman had told Rahulan of the decision and directed that he convey it to Pushpakumar. The dates were given.

As reported in these columns, Mr. Prabhakaran had decided to retaliate fiercely to bombing raids carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force on targets in the north beginning late June this year. 

The raids followed a Special Branch (an intelligence arm of the Police) warning that the guerrillas planned to re-capture Jaffna town in the first two weeks of July this year (Situation Report – July 22). That was not to be.

Preparations for the final reconnaissance and assault began with the use of the cellular phones beginning July 18. 

They continued until July 24 and every day Pushpakumar maintained contact with the first batch of some 10 or 11 Black Tiger cadres. They had travelled, one by one from the Wanni, to avoid detection. More were to join later. Every one of them reported to Dominic in Safe House One.

Pushpakumar with Kutti and Kannan, two from the Black Tiger group, began the final surveillance. For this purpose, Kutti and Kannan used motor-cycles and cellular phones. During this time, Pushpakumar moved around Raj Fernando Stadium, located near the main entrance to the airbase.

The reconnaissance, it has now been revealed, bared a shocking fact. Just a little distance away from the Air Force main guard room, airmen were using an opening in the perimeter fence, to leave or enter the airbase without formal permission. The area was overgrown with vegetation. It had been used by some airmen for their love trysts with girls employed in the neighbouring export processing zone. Entry and exit to the airbase through this opening was very easy.

So much so, during final reconnaisance, Pushpakumar, Kutti and Kannan went into the airbase complex seven times.They wore suicide jackets beneath dark coloured casual clothes. They carried cyanide capsules and silencer pistols which had a laser aiming mechanism. Pointing such a weapon to a target generates a red dot which makes firing easy. On one occasion, a sentry at the guard post made a friendly remark prompting Pushpakumar to respond in impeccable Sinhala calling him machan and telling him they would return soon. Sentries thought they were airmen.

On July 22 there were hectic preparations. A lorry fully loaded with dried fish arrived in Puttalam from Mannar. After unloading the cargo, this blue coloured Isuzu Elf lorry went to a secret location near the sea coast in Puttalam. The weaponry for use in the attack and six Black Tiger cadres had already arrived there by sea from a Sea Tiger base in the western flank of the Wanni. The men boarded the lorry with the weapons and began their journey to Kattuwa, Negombo. They took different routes avoiding the main road and were not stopped for any checks by the Police or the Army.

Arrival at Safe House One had been planned to co-incide with power cut hours. No doors were opened to unload and carry the weapons inside. Instead, a window grille was removed. The lorry was reversed to that point and the weapons transferred. Whilst this went on, two Black Tiger guerrillas, armed with machine guns, stood behind the closed gates. They were under orders to shoot if any one walked in.

When the lorry with the six Black Tigers and weapons moved from Puttalam to Negombo, the driver was briefed that he should bring the lorry's front entrance close to any policeman or security forces personnel who would stop them. One Black Tiger guerrilla told him, he would then shoot the person after which they could drive off,

Pushpakumar was the main co-ordinator of the attack. The assault group leader was Kutti and Kannan led the first assault group.

Hours before D Day (July 23) arrived, men in Safe House One and Two made preparations. Some donned suicide jackets. All of them were in casual clothes. By 8.30 p.m. that night, they were all ready. They cleared the two safe houses of everything-food items, toiletries and soft drink bottles among them. They were packed in polythene sacks. Contrary to earlier belief that they had a picnic and left behind items of food and drinks, it was these items in polythene sacks that were left behind at Raj Fernando Stadium. The guerrillas were particular nothing was left behind in the safe houses.

From Safe House One, the Black Tigers boarded the Isuzu Elf bus (62-4920). Rahulan was also in the bus which had the Sinhala destination board "Matara" placed in the front. He carried three cellular phones in his hand. The destination board was placed to give the impression that it was a private bus heading for Matara. Dominic, who was very familiar with the Negombo roads, drove it to Raj Fernando Stadium. They arrived during the power cut hours.

Dominc and Rahulan dropped the men, the weapons and polythene sacks at the stadium and drove away. Waiting there at the stadium were Pushpakumar and Kannan. 

They had arrived on a motor cycle. After alighting from the bus, the men changed clothes, formed two rows, one led by Kutti and the other by Kannan. They moved to enter the airbase through the open area in the perimeter fence.

Pushpakumar, who wore a balaclava, was very busy. As the men entered, he kept talking on the Icom set. Later, he was busy on one of the two cellular phones in his hand. Through the Icom set he was passing down instructions to the Black Tigers moving into the airbase. 

Through the cellular phones he was talking to the LTTE command centre in the Wanni, giving them regular updates and obtaining instructions.

By 10 p.m. when the Black Tigers had already entered the airbase, Pushpakumar left on the motor cycle to Safe House Two, his abode. 

He remained silent till 1 a.m. on July 24 when he switched on the cellular phones and talked to the command centre in the Wanni. Then he spoke on a cellular phone to a member of the attack group. By 5.30 a.m. the cellular phones had been switched off. The devastating attacks were then over.

Pushpakumar comfortably left Negombo on a journey to the Wanni. There he met Velupillai Prabhakaran, who congratulated him for a job well done. However, Mr. Prabhakaran had told him it would have been better if the attackers had held on to the airbase for at least a day so the world will get to know the LTTE's capabilities.

Later, he appeared at a news conference for the LTTE media. He related his 'achievements' before a TV camera. A video programme of the attack is now being exhibited by the LTTE in some European capitals. It has also been widely exhibited at schools and other places during the recent LTTE recruitment campaign in the East.

How Dominic went to LTTE held Wanni is another tale. He accompanied a group of civilians, who obtained permission from the Ministry of Defence, to go on pilgrimage to Madhu Church. Whilst the pilgrims remained there, he proceeded to meet LTTE leaders and returned to the Wanni to join them. He returned to Negombo where he had been told to await further instructions.

In the run up to the Katunayake attacks, Pushpakumar had made a fatal blunder. Amidst a spate of calls he made to the LTTE Wanni Command Centre, he made a call to a lodge in Colombo where his girl friend stayed.

One morning, a team led by ASP Waidyalankara raided the lodge. The girl friend not only admitted Pushpakumar was her boy friend but willingly led them to Safe House Two. 

That was how the hard core Black Tiger cadre fell into the hands of the detectives. A visit to the First Safe House led to Victor Dominic falling into their hands. 

The Ratnasingham family had left Safe House Two after the attack and are now known to be living in Trichi, India. A search of his house revealed a variety of forged National Identity Cards that bore Pushpakumar's photographs under different names. There were two maps with notes in Tamil giving details of the President's House in Kandy and the Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura. That showed that the guerrillas were making plans for fresh attacks.

The hand writing on these maps tallied with two others Police Special Task Force Commandos had seized after raiding an LTTE hideout in the Kanjikudichiaru jungles in the Batticaloa district. Those maps of the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) and the President's House in Colombo also bore the same hand writing, giving further indications of plans under way.

At Safe House One, Dominic had removed the curtains that adorned the place and hid them in the ceiling. He had placed a large religious photograph on the wall. At Safe House Two, detectives found two suicide jackets, cyanide capsules, a 9 mm pistol with a silencer and laser aimer, cellular phones and documents.

CID detectives flew in a helicopter to Trincomalee after arresting Dominic. He led him to his house where a cellular phone used in the attack was recovered together with other items. His wife was taken into custody and flown back to Colombo.

Investigations revealed that the attackers had used communications agencies in Negombo, Colombo and Vavuniya. CID detectives have sealed them. Suspects connected with the attacks who used cellular phones in Mannar, Trincomalee, Negombo and Colombo have also been taken into custody.

In order to establish that Pushpakumar was not a member of the Ratnasingham family, detectives have obtained his blood sample. They also tracked down his mother and sister, now living in Mannar, and obtained their blood samples too. Inspector P. Ampawala and Additional Judicial Medical Officer (AJMO), Dr. B.P.P. Perera, flew to London on Wednesday with these blood samples to carry out DNA tests.

In a remarkable feat, detectives arrested some suspects from areas in the Wanni which were closer to guerrilla dominated areas. In addition to Pushpakumar and Dominic, over a 100 suspects are now in custody. They include two businessmen, one from Vavuniya and another from Colombo, who had obtained the cellular phones. These businessmen had confirmed that they bought the cellular phones on a request made by LTTE Political Wing leader, Thamil Chelvam.

The Colombo businessman had provided shelter to a suicide bomber who later exploded himself at Torrington square. Indictments against several persons who are now in custody are to be made after Acting Attorney General, C.R. de Silva, studies further CID reports of the investigation.

The outcome of the latest CID investigation will undoubtedly go down in their history as the most remarkable. Several officers who made it possible are in for commendation.