Lanka police seize huge amount of C-4 explosives

Colombo, June 2: Sri Lanka today claimed that its police had seized a huge quantity of C-4 high explosives at a checkpoint in the north-western province.

According a Defence Ministry report, the detection was made when a lorry, on its way to transport the explosives to Colombo, was stopped at a police road block at Palugas in Nikkawerattiya in the Kurunagala district yesterday evening.

'' A total of 1052 kg of C-4 type High Explosives, which had been packed and concealed in the body of the vehicle was recovered,'' the report said, adding the lorry with two suspected have been taken into custody.

It said the entire consignment of explosives was packed in 37 boxes weighing 26 kg each and nine boxes containing 10 kg of explosives each.

In a similar incident in the eastern Trincomalee district, the government troops while conducting a search operation in the Verugal area last evening recovered 25 kg of TNT explosives in sealed polythene bags, the Defence Ministry report claimed.

Meanwhile, three LTTE cadres were killed in a fresh fighting between the government troops and the LTTE in the West of Omanthai entry/exit point in the Vavuniya district.

A soldier of the Sri Lankan army also sustained injuries in the clash and has been admitted to the nearby Vavuniya hospital, the Defence Ministry said.

UNI