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Veiled threat in hidden bomb?
By Chris Kamalendran
It was shortly after midnight on Monday when the telephone at the Grand Pass police station rang. The officer on duty, Sergeant Chadrasiri picked up the receiver expecting another routine call. But routine it certainly was not.

The caller speaking in fluent Sinhala asked for the officer in charge of the Intelligence unit by name, Ajith Peduruararchchi, and told him there were some explosives hidden under an oil pipe line running through a tunnel in the Grandpass area. He then cut the line.

This oil line carries crude oil from the Colombo Port to the Sapugaskanda refinery. After alerting the OIC, Dattila Jayasinghe, a police party arrived on the scene and found two parcels hidden in the exact location given by the caller. With the assistance of the STF bomb squad, they opened up the two parcels. One of them wrapped in a Tamil newspaper contained six hand grenades.

The more alarming discovery was soon to follow. Wrapped up in a black bag was a claymore mine fitted with a side charger. The 7.6 kilos of explosives found in it included 3.45 kilograms of C4 -- high velocity military plastic explosives. Tied to the bag was a tag in Tamil saying, 'towards the police side.'

These explosives– believed to be one of the biggest detections in Colombo since the signing of the ceasefire agreement–have now been handed over to the Government Analyst department. The investigations have been handed over to the Colombo Crime Division.

SSP D.S. Lugoda who is heading the investigations said they are yet looking into who could have hidden it and for what purpose. "We believe that the planting of the explosives is linked to the peace process. It can either be seen as a threat to disrupt the peace process or as a signal to show somebody's presence," he said.

However he said they were awaiting the report from the Government Analyst department to proceed with the investigations. A man who was found sleeping close to the spot- where the explosives were found- was arrested but later released after he was identified as a drug addict who habitually slept there.

In a similar detection, a claymore mine was detected in Piliyandala but no breakthrough has been made in the investigation.

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