As a cloud of mystery hangs over the claymore mine allegedly found at the scene of last Tuesday’s attack on the MTV/MBC studio complex in Pannipitiya, the main opposition UNP said there was a conspiracy to pin the blame on the party.
Earlier, Police spokesperson Ranjith Gunasekara had quoted the Government Analyst as saying an SM 96-type claymore mine weighing more than 8 kilograms was found in the wreckage.
However, the government denied that there was a claymore mine.
 |
| The damaged control room of the MTV/MBC station |
Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told a news briefing that no claymore mine was found at the MTV/MBC studio complex.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Times learns that the Government Analyst’s Department has been ordered to keep silent about the ongoing investigation.
The Government Analyst’s report is due on January 26.
Early on Tuesday morning, a white van pulled up in front of the MTV/MBC studio and 20 men armed with grenades and T-56 assault rifles stormed the studio and destroyed television equipment worth millions of rupees, the TV station said.
The police have asked MTV to hand over to them their closed circuit television tapes. The final police report on the investigation on the MTV/MBC attack will be submitted on June 24.
Meanwhile, the opposition UNP said there was a police conspiracy to pin the blame on it.
On Friday, the Maharagama police arrested UNP Kotte Municipal Councillor Suraj Anthony Jayasuriya in connection with the MTV/MBC attack. The Maharagama police said they arrested Jayasuriya after receiving an anonymous call alleging that Jayasuriya’s black Land Rover had been used to transport the T-56 weapons used in the MTV/MBC attack. The caller was said to have told the police that the assailants had parked their white van in Rajagiriya and then loaded their weapons on to the Kotte MMC’s vehicle.
At a news conference held yesterday, UNP Kotte MMC Chandima Nayanajith said that on the day of the attack the Kotte MMC Jayasuriya, his wife and a lawyer friend were attending a party at his house in Borella, and that the party had gone on till very late.
Mr. Naynajith pointed out that the “anonymous caller” had provided the name, address, telephone number and vehicle number of the arrested Kotte MMC, but had failed to note the licence number of the white van from which the weapons were reportedly unloaded.
“When I asked the Maharagama police OIC why the number of the white van was not taken, he reprimanded me,” Mr. Nayanajith said.
| 
E-mail