Sagala assures Govt. won’t allow Aava group to raise its head

Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake said yesterday the Government would not allow the so-called Aava group, or any other criminal gang, to raise its head in the North. 

The Minister said the Police had unleashed its full strength to curb the activities of the criminal gang and bring its members to book. 

“It was reported that the gang had launched eight attacks in the Northern Province recently. The Police has already arrested six individuals in connection with these incidents and further investigations are underway to arrest other members of the group,” the Minister said, issuing a statement. 

To expedite the investigations, the Police have cancelled the leave of all officers in the Jaffna police area, the Minister added. 

“We don’t want to restrict our operations against criminal gangs to the Northern Province. Similar operations are already underway in other parts of the country as well, and the Police have made significant progress in this regard. Crucial details of some ‘masterminds’ operating the underworld from overseas have already been uncovered,” the Minister also said expressing confidence that the Police will soon be able to apprehend them.

Police leave cancelled after gang violence

AFP: The Government has cancelled all police leave and stepped up patrols in Jaffna after a wave of violence in the island’s former war zone, a Minister said yesterday.

Jaffna is the heartland of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority and was the epicentre of the long separatist war that ended in 2009.

Tensions persist between troops deployed in the area and the local Tamil population, and last year the Government accused the military of backing a gang terrorising civilians in the area.

On Friday, Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake said authorities were grappling with a fresh wave of gang-related violence, but denied it was related to last year’s unrest.

He said eight people had been seriously wounded in two days in Jaffna, which lies 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Colombo, in what appeared to be an extortion racket.

“We have already arrested six people from this new gang and we are looking for several others,” he said.

The current government came to power in January 2015 promising reconciliation after the decades-long war and has tried to restrict military involvement in day-to-day activities in Jaffna.

However, civil society groups say elements loyal to the former administration are still in key positions and are fomenting unrest.

Government forces maintain a large presence in the former war zone and keep a close watch on the Tamil population, eight years after the end of the war.