The Raid on "Mahanuwara Nuakawa" floating armoury reminds me of 2002 Raid on Mattegoda LRRP of Army

Images with Courtesy of NETH FM

Today our efficient civil defense forces carried out a raid on the M/V Mahanuwara owned by Avant Garde Maritime Srevices (Pvt) Ltd through Avant Garde Security Services (Pvt) Ltd. This is a floating armoury which was bonded through the approval of Defense Ministry of Sri Lanka. It may be that the ownership of the holding company was questionable with regards to the connections with Mr Gotabhaya Rajapakse & the defense establishment. This floating armoury was a fantastic idea with relations to its activities against the Somalian Pirates. It may be that somebody holds a grudge against the function of its activities in relation to the former Defence Secretary! That is administrative issue that has to be resolved by the present rulers. This floating armoury is providing invaluable service to the to anti piracy activities. This whole matter may involve diplomatic consequences as well. I give below a article that had devastating consequences  to our effort in defeating LTTE operations. 

Army needs officers and gentlemen (Sunday Times Letters to Editor - 03/02/2002)

January 2, 2002 must be rated as one of the darkest days in Sri Lanka's military history. The raid conducted by some top-notch policemen on a 'safe house' in Athurugiriya following a 'tip off' has raised very sensitive issues. 

When I saw the news splashed in some Sinhala newspapers I felt that the whole story was improbable. 

No trained army personnel would require such a heap of weaponry for a civilian target in non-operational areas. The tangle of wires, cyanide capsules and Tiger fatigues were obvious. Even if, as the police first contended, everything was suspicious, what purpose would it have served by giving it wide publicity? The others would have gone into hiding or the evidence could have been destroyed making the whole exercise useless. 

I have been closely following the very objective analysis of Iqbal Athas, The Sunday Times Defence Correspondent. His articles on the January 2 episode are chilling. the LRRP operations were being carried out deep in LTTE-held areas by a handful of brave and dedicated men. Today their lives are shattered. I am sure they would have preferred death at the hand of the enemy rather than disgrace.

Thanks to some hasty and unwise decisions of those in uniform the whole country is in jeopardy. The way that some factions of the media splashed the news without verifying the facts of the discovery of the safe house and weaponry and some police officers posing before TV cameras expressing their views was nauseating to say the least. Apparently, there is a very serious security leak somewhere and that has to be in the higher echelons of the army. 

If the identities of these brave and dedicated men were revealed to all and sundry before they were found guilty, then the identities of the so- called 'informants' should also be revealed. The country should know who the real traitors are. If the top police officer says that he was given information over his cell phone, then it would not be difficult to trace it. He is duty bound to inform at least the courts of the identity of his informant. If they are army officers they should be dealt with, no matter what their rank. 

The army doesn't need men in their ceremonial uniforms. It needs officers and gentlemen. I am sure there are plenty of brave and committed men. I salute them and others who have paid the supreme sacrifice for their country. 

N. Perera
Mattegoda