No threat to national security, says Sri Lanka

Colombo, March 30: Sri Lanka on Wednesday, March 30 said there was no threat to the country's security though a suicide jacket and explosives were found from a house in north where the Tamil Tigers once held sway.

There was no threat to the national security despite allegations by the opposition that the Tamil Tiger rebels may try to regroup, news agency quoted defence secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi as saying.

"We recover various kind of ammunition very often as these were all hidden by the LTTE during the war. So the question of our national security being threatened does not arise," Hettiarachchi said.

Opposition parliamentarian and former president's son, Namal Rajapakse on Wednesday tweeted that recovery of a suicide jacket and explosives in the former war-torn north earlier in the day raised questions if the Tamil Tiger rebels were trying to regroup in the island nation.

However, Hettiarachchi said that the recovery was "nothing extraordinary" as such explosives and ammunition were hidden by the rebels during the war period.

In addition to the suicide jacket, police also discovered a stock of explosives and bullets which were hidden in a house in Chawakachcheri, in the north.

Police had reportedly raided the house on a tip-off that the owner had in his possession drugs and marijuana and the suspect had fled the area during the raid.

The opposition has called on the government to take responsibility for the "breakdown in security" and take control of the escalating crime rate.

The now vanquished Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) liberally used suicide bombers to target opponents during the armed conflict in Sri Lanka that ended in 2009.

IANS