Colombo’s Praba’ caught
On March 20, 2009 around 8:30 pm, security forces personnel were engaged in routine vehicle checking operations at the Kollupitiya end of the entrance to the High Security Zone covering Temple Trees, Galle Face and Janadhipathi Mandiraya areas. A taxi was stopped and checked, when the passenger inside duly submitted his NIC and Police clearance certificate and said he was on his way to meet a friend at the Colombo Swimming Club (CSC). He also showed his Club membership card. Since everything seemed in order, he was allowed to proceed. This was also because the passenger had spoken in fluent Sinhalese.
 The personal weapons cache of Prabhakaran |
The stranger at the CSC
The ‘passenger’ was a bald headed male, around five-feet eleven-inches tall, wearing a dark blue long sleeved shirt and black trousers. He wore highly polished shoes, and a gold bracelet on his wrist. He was carrying what appeared to be an envelope in his hand, as he entered the CSC. He signed the Club’s visitors’ book and entered the lobby. As he looked around, he spotted the diplomat whom he had apparently come to meet, who was known to him. The two had a brief chat and the ‘visitor’ handed over the envelope he was carrying to the diplomat. The envelope contained a DVD disc. He stayed with the diplomat till 9:30 pm, when he left the Club.
However, this person was unaware that he was under surveillance by the State Intelligence Service’s (SIS) agents. The DVD he handed over to the diplomat contained old video footages of a massacre of Sinhalese persons by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sometime ago. But the twist was, he had convinced the diplomat that the video footage was of Tamils killed by the Sri Lankan Army.
Misleading the diplomatic community
This person had been in the habit of meeting diplomats at the CSC whom he lobbied and misled, regarding the conflict in Sri Lanka. He also spoke very fluent English and used it to advantage in his errands for the LTTE. However, his task was not only to misinform the diplomatic community. He had also other parts to play, which were very effective in influencing the diplomatic community to be sympathetic to the Tigers.
His name is Prabha and lived in Wellawatte. He was the owner of an electronics outlet called Panama Traders, Shop Numbers 3-26 and 3-27 on the 3rd Floor of Majestic City. His mobile phone number was 0777 398 117 and his shop phone number was 011 4527057.
Ways of cultivating contacts
Whenever Prabha identified any customers arriving at his shop as being from the security forces, he would personally attend to them and be very polite and go out of his way to please them. If he found that they are indeed from the military or from the police, he would try to ascertain from which arm of the security forces they were, their ranks and type of duties they are engaged in etc. If they were civilian customers, he would immediately ask one of his shop assistants to serve them and revert to his own tasks.
Prabha had excellent public relations skills. If the customer was a military or police officer, he would offer them generous discounts, sometimes up to 50%. He attributed his patriotism for this generous act. This was his modus operandi to initiate and establish contacts, through whom he would solicit the patronage of the contact’s colleagues. After all, here was a patriotic guy offering large discounts to military and police personnel. Who wouldn’t fall for this old trick? Thereafter, he would entertain these ‘friends’ to parties, dinners etc at star class hotels and prestigious clubs, where almost always he was a member.
However, not all service personnel fell for his age-old tricks. Rather, his actions raised their suspicions. This had led to some serious investigations, and even now, several of those who enjoyed Prabha’s hospitality, are under investigation by the SIS and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI).
 Body of slain LTTE leader Prabhakaran |
Prabha’s real mission
Prabha, the electronics dealer, was one of the persons behind many Tiger activities in and around Colombo, investigations have thus far revealed. He facilitated accommodation for LTTE suicide bombers and coordinated their missions. He financed the LTTE moles living in Colombo and facilitated their communication with the LTTE leadership in the North. He received instructions from LTTE intelligence head Pottu Amman, Kapil Amman, Charles and Ratnam master, a senior SIS agent told this column. All in all, Prabha was one of the key LTTE leaders operating in Colombo.
During the ceasefire, Prabha had travelled several times to LTTE controlled areas, and met with the LTTE leadership. He had supplied them with digital and video cameras, used by the LTTE for its worldwide propaganda. He had also placed Fixed Colour Video cameras at several lodges in Wellawatte, so as to prevent the abduction of Tiger cadres by rival groups. But, he was not successful in installing such cameras on the approach roads. He had developed high level contacts with Police officers in and around Wellawatte, and whenever a search operation was to be conducted, he received prior information, and took action to safeguard his accomplices.
The Tigers’ lair
The LTTE had, apparently, funded the construction of a seven-storied luxury apartment complex at 37th Lane, Wellawatte, named Sunflower Apartments. Prabha was instrumental in the purchase of the land and the building of this apartment complex from its inception. This complex became a safe house for LTTE operatives in and around Colombo.
The Tiger travels with accomplice
Prabha used to travel to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and there is credible information that, while on his travels, he had met LTTE international procurement leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, in Thailand and Malaysia. On two of these trips, Prabha had been accompanied by a Lt. Col. Ranjith Perera.
Prabha had also hosted a party at the Gold Club, which was attended by Western diplomats. He had spent over Rs 100,000 per night on these occasions. His intention had been to lobby diplomats to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to stop the ongoing operations. He is also said to have funded one of the Tamil political party leaders as well.
Tiger fangs bared
Prabha was arrested by SIS agents and even as this column is being written, he is being interrogated by SIS and TID agents regarding his links. His shop at Majestic City is being guarded by the Bambalapitiya Police.
One of Prabha’s major links, as was exposed by this column last week, Lt. Col. Ranjith Perera, was a Colonel General Staff (GS) of 52 Division. He served from 2006-2-9 to 2008-1-8. He had been denied promotion to the rank of full Colonel by the Army Commander. This was because, during a battle at Tanankilappu in Jaffna, when the LTTE had attacked this Lt. Col.’s battalion, he had not offered resistance and, without his superior officer’s command, he had withdrawn his battalion from battle.
As Colonel GS, he had passed sensitive information to Prabha over his phone. Some of the incidents, where prior information had reached the LTTE, are:
The LTTE attack on February 14, 2007, when the Mechanised Infantry Regiment was observing its ceremonial day, in which the then Mechanised Brigade Commander Col. Ralph Nugera was seriously injured and soldiers killed. When the Defence Secretary and the Army Commander flew to Jaffna, the LTTE mounted an artillery attack from Pooneryn on Palaly Air Base. The aircraft did not land and returned safely to Colombo. This trip was a tightly kept secret among the security forces, but not so for the LTTE, as the sensitive information had been already passed onto the Tigers through Lt. Col. Ranjith Perera.
The other was when the then GOC Jaffna Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri was on an inspection tour of Jaffna. Then too, the LTTE directed artillery fire.
And whenever the Sri Lanka Army advanced from the Muhamalai front, the LTTE almost always had prior information from this Lt. Col. All these information passed through Prabha.
Tigers admit loss of their leader
The LTTE’s international procurement head and V. Prabhakaran’s close friend Kumaran or Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias K.P admitted that Prabhakaran is dead when he spoke to BBC on May 25.
The BBC reported: “We announce today, with inexpressible sadness and heavy hearts, that our incomparable leader and supreme commander ... attained martyrdom fighting the military oppression,” said KP, in a statement on Sunday to Al Jazeera. Many didn’t believe that Prabhakaran was dead, not only Tamils but even Sinhalease. Some said the Army had exhibited a body similar to that of Prabhakaran’s, or had created a dummy resembling Prabhakaran. But KP’s statement dispelled any doubts of Prabhakaran’s death.
Top Tiger killing, verification and dismissal of rumours
Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed on May 18 by the Commandos. As a ‘rule’, when Commandos or Special Forces kill any terrorists, they do not recover their bodies. They collect their personal weapons and produce them to their CO or their Brigade Commanders. This is a practice by Special Forces worldwide.
On May 18 evening, a commando had handed over to his CO, a pistol and a hip holster. The pistol had carried the inscription T.V.P 001, raising suspicion that it belonged to Velupillai Prabhakaran. T.V.P 001 means Thamil Vidudalai Puligal (Tamil Liberation Tigers). And Military Intelligence confirmed that it was indeed Prabhakaran’s pistol.
Minister Vinayagamoorthi Muralidaran, alias ‘Karuna Amman’, one time close confidante of Prabhakaran and Daya master, the former LTTE media spokesman, arrived to identify Prabhakaran’s body. They identified and confirmed that the body recovered was that of Prabhakaran’s. Certain scars and birthmarks had helped them in their identification. Thus, the Army was able to squash all rumors regarding Prabhakaran being alive.
Prabhakaran’s family
There are rumours that Prabhakaran’s wife, younger son and daughter too, have been killed during the final battles. An officer from the battlefront said they hadn’t recovered any bodies of children. When Intelligence agents interrogated a close aide of Prabhakaran, he had said that, last year, Prabhakaran’s wife and younger son Balachandran had escaped by boat to Tamil Nadu, where they were to meet with an LTTE cadre, who was to arrange for them to fly to Singapore, from there to an unknown destination.
Prabhakaran’s daughter, Duvaragha, who was said to be studying in Ireland, during the height of the final battle, hadn’t returned to Sri Lanka, but had been in touch with her father via phone, revealed a credible source from Norway. She had arrived in Oslo as instructed by her father, as there were many to take care of her there.
Checkpoints in Colombo?
When this columnist asked Secretary of Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as to why the Government had not removed the checkpoints along the roads, now that the battle had ended, Mr. Rajapaksa said that Intelligence had to give clearance that there is no threat to security to Colombo city. “Once that confirmation is received, then I will have the barriers removed,” he said. A very senior Intelligence officer told this column: “At the moment, we wish to verify and ascertain that there are no LTTE cells in Colombo and its suburbs. As mentioned regularly in these columns before, there are apt to be many more LTTE cells or ‘sleeping cadres’ in and around Colombo. These would be revealed in the near future.
Commander and his commanded meet in Kilinochchi
The unprecedented bravery and the varied tactics and manoeuvers engaged by the Sri Lankan military would not go out of fashion or out of date. They even surprised the super powers, right now fighting so many terrorist outfits, and don’t seem to be making any headway.
The troops who sacrificed their comforts, blood, sweat and tears to achieve this unprecedented victory, had a surprise on Friday, May 22. Their Commander, who had himself sacrificed his time and comfort, directing the battle, flew to the LTTE’s former ‘administrative capital’, now under Government control.
Newly promoted General Sarath Fonseka arrived in Kilinochchi to felicitate the bravery of his troops.
General Fonseka, never known to trim or sugarcoat his words, had always stood by his phrase, “I will not leave this fight for my successor to continue. I will see an end to it during my time in the Army.” Hence, May 22 morning, when he went to pay his tribute to the valiant troops, it would have been the most significant and historic moment in General Fonseka’s career.
General Fonseka was received on arrival at the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters by Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri. After a brief stopover, General Fonseka proceeded to Kilinochchi, where GOC, Wanni Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya received him and accompanied him to 57 Division Headquarters.
GOC 57 Division Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias, as the seniormost GOC, received their chief, who masterminded and engineered all operational tactics against the LTTE. The Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment accorded a Guard of Honour to the visiting Army Chief. In his address to the troops in Kilinochchi, the first, after being promoted, General Fonseka told them that, if not for their heroic sacrifices, it wouldn’t have been possible to triumph over LTTE terrorism, like they had done now. He compared the deed with that of King Dutugemunu unifying the whole island under one flag.
General Sarath Fonseka also expressd his gratitude to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and all those who supported the armed forces. He also did not fail to recall the dedication of departed soldiers and others who have been disabled.
Prabha, the electronics dealer, was one of the persons behind many Tiger activities in and around Colombo, investigations have thus far revealed. He facilitated accommodation for LTTE suicide bombers and coordinated their missions. He financed the LTTE moles living in Colombo and facilitated their communication with the LTTE leadership in the North. He received instructions from LTTE intelligence head Pottu Amman, Kapil Amman, Charles and Ratnam master, a senior SIS agent told this column. All in all, Prabha was one of the key LTTE leaders operating in Colombo.
During the ceasefire, Prabha had travelled several times to LTTE controlled areas, and met with the LTTE leadership. He had supplied them with digital and video cameras, used by the LTTE for its worldwide propaganda. He had also placed Fixed Colour Video cameras at several lodges in Wellawatte, so as to prevent the abduction of Tiger cadres by rival groups. But, he was not successful in installing such cameras on the approach roads. He had developed high level contacts with Police officers in and around Wellawatte, and whenever a search operation was to be conducted, he received prior information, and took action to safeguard his accomplices.
The Tigers’ lair
The LTTE had, apparently, funded the construction of a seven-storied luxury apartment complex at 37th Lane, Wellawatte, named Sunflower Apartments. Prabha was instrumental in the purchase of the land and the building of this apartment complex from its inception. This complex became a safe house for LTTE operatives in and around Colombo.
The Tiger travels with accomplice
Prabha used to travel to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and there is credible information that, while on his travels, he had met LTTE international procurement leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, in Thailand and Malaysia. On two of these trips, Prabha had been accompanied by a Lt. Col. Ranjith Perera.
Prabha had also hosted a party at the Gold Club, which was attended by Western diplomats. He had spent over Rs 100,000 per night on these occasions. His intention had been to lobby diplomats to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to stop the ongoing operations. He is also said to have funded one of the Tamil political party leaders as well.
Tiger fangs bared
Prabha was arrested by SIS agents and even as this column is being written, he is being interrogated by SIS and TID agents regarding his links. His shop at Majestic City is being guarded by the Bambalapitiya Police.
One of Prabha’s major links, as was exposed by this column last week, Lt. Col. Ranjith Perera, was a Colonel General Staff (GS) of 52 Division. He served from 2006-2-9 to 2008-1-8. He had been denied promotion to the rank of full Colonel by the Army Commander. This was because, during a battle at Tanankilappu in Jaffna, when the LTTE had attacked this Lt. Col.’s battalion, he had not offered resistance and, without his superior officer’s command, he had withdrawn his battalion from battle.
As Colonel GS, he had passed sensitive information to Prabha over his phone. Some of the incidents, where prior information had reached the LTTE, are:
The LTTE attack on February 14, 2007, when the Mechanised Infantry Regiment was observing its ceremonial day, in which the then Mechanised Brigade Commander Col. Ralph Nugera was seriously injured and soldiers killed. When the Defence Secretary and the Army Commander flew to Jaffna, the LTTE mounted an artillery attack from Pooneryn on Palaly Air Base. The aircraft did not land and returned safely to Colombo. This trip was a tightly kept secret among the security forces, but not so for the LTTE, as the sensitive information had been already passed onto the Tigers through Lt. Col. Ranjith Perera.
The other was when the then GOC Jaffna Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri was on an inspection tour of Jaffna. Then too, the LTTE directed artillery fire.
And whenever the Sri Lanka Army advanced from the Muhamalai front, the LTTE almost always had prior information from this Lt. Col. All these information passed through Prabha.
Tigers admit loss of their leader
The LTTE’s international procurement head and V. Prabhakaran’s close friend Kumaran or Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias K.P admitted that Prabhakaran is dead when he spoke to BBC on May 25.
The BBC reported: “We announce today, with inexpressible sadness and heavy hearts, that our incomparable leader and supreme commander ... attained martyrdom fighting the military oppression,” said KP, in a statement on Sunday to Al Jazeera. Many didn’t believe that Prabhakaran was dead, not only Tamils but even Sinhalease. Some said the Army had exhibited a body similar to that of Prabhakaran’s, or had created a dummy resembling Prabhakaran. But KP’s statement dispelled any doubts of Prabhakaran’s death.
Top Tiger killing, verification and dismissal of rumours
Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed on May 18 by the Commandos. As a ‘rule’, when Commandos or Special Forces kill any terrorists, they do not recover their bodies. They collect their personal weapons and produce them to their CO or their Brigade Commanders. This is a practice by Special Forces worldwide.
On May 18 evening, a commando had handed over to his CO, a pistol and a hip holster. The pistol had carried the inscription T.V.P 001, raising suspicion that it belonged to Velupillai Prabhakaran. T.V.P 001 means Thamil Vidudalai Puligal (Tamil Liberation Tigers). And Military Intelligence confirmed that it was indeed Prabhakaran’s pistol.
Minister Vinayagamoorthi Muralidaran, alias ‘Karuna Amman’, one time close confidante of Prabhakaran and Daya master, the former LTTE media spokesman, arrived to identify Prabhakaran’s body. They identified and confirmed that the body recovered was that of Prabhakaran’s. Certain scars and birthmarks had helped them in their identification. Thus, the Army was able to squash all rumors regarding Prabhakaran being alive.
Prabhakaran’s family
There are rumours that Prabhakaran’s wife, younger son and daughter too, have been killed during the final battles. An officer from the battlefront said they hadn’t recovered any bodies of children. When Intelligence agents interrogated a close aide of Prabhakaran, he had said that, last year, Prabhakaran’s wife and younger son Balachandran had escaped by boat to Tamil Nadu, where they were to meet with an LTTE cadre, who was to arrange for them to fly to Singapore, from there to an unknown destination.
Prabhakaran’s daughter, Duvaragha, who was said to be studying in Ireland, during the height of the final battle, hadn’t returned to Sri Lanka, but had been in touch with her father via phone, revealed a credible source from Norway. She had arrived in Oslo as instructed by her father, as there were many to take care of her there.
Checkpoints in Colombo?
When this columnist asked Secretary of Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as to why the Government had not removed the checkpoints along the roads, now that the battle had ended, Mr. Rajapaksa said that Intelligence had to give clearance that there is no threat to security to Colombo city. “Once that confirmation is received, then I will have the barriers removed,” he said. A very senior Intelligence officer told this column: “At the moment, we wish to verify and ascertain that there are no LTTE cells in Colombo and its suburbs. As mentioned regularly in these columns before, there are apt to be many more LTTE cells or ‘sleeping cadres’ in and around Colombo. These would be revealed in the near future.
Commander and his commanded meet in Kilinochchi
The unprecedented bravery and the varied tactics and manoeuvers engaged by the Sri Lankan military would not go out of fashion or out of date. They even surprised the super powers, right now fighting so many terrorist outfits, and don’t seem to be making any headway.
The troops who sacrificed their comforts, blood, sweat and tears to achieve this unprecedented victory, had a surprise on Friday, May 22. Their Commander, who had himself sacrificed his time and comfort, directing the battle, flew to the LTTE’s former ‘administrative capital’, now under Government control.
Newly promoted General Sarath Fonseka arrived in Kilinochchi to felicitate the bravery of his troops.
General Fonseka, never known to trim or sugarcoat his words, had always stood by his phrase, “I will not leave this fight for my successor to continue. I will see an end to it during my time in the Army.” Hence, May 22 morning, when he went to pay his tribute to the valiant troops, it would have been the most significant and historic moment in General Fonseka’s career.
General Fonseka was received on arrival at the Wanni Security Forces Headquarters by Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri. After a brief stopover, General Fonseka proceeded to Kilinochchi, where GOC, Wanni Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya received him and accompanied him to 57 Division Headquarters.
GOC 57 Division Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias, as the seniormost GOC, received their chief, who masterminded and engineered all operational tactics against the LTTE. The Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment accorded a Guard of Honour to the visiting Army Chief. In his address to the troops in Kilinochchi, the first, after being promoted, General Fonseka told them that, if not for their heroic sacrifices, it wouldn’t have been possible to triumph over LTTE terrorism, like they had done now. He compared the deed with that of King Dutugemunu unifying the whole island under one flag.
General Sarath Fonseka also expressd his gratitude to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and all those who supported the armed forces. He also did not fail to recall the dedication of departed soldiers and others who have been disabled.
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