Opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe has condemned arbitrary arrests of Tamils in Colombo. Mr Wickremasinghe says that undue delay in enquiries by police was leading to allegations of disappearances and called for appointment of Tamil officers in all police stations.
Police say they carried out a number of cordon and search operations in the capital in August. A major search operation was conducted on 6 August in Negombo, 20 miles north of Colombo for hidden explosives and weapons. Four days later police searched Crow Island and Modera areas in north Colombo and rounded-up 20 Tamil youths. Another 15 young men and women were arrested in the Pettah commercial district on 2 September.
Police believe that many Tiger suicide units are in southern Sri Lanka to attack high-profile targets. In early August Deputy Inspector of Police DMTB Dissanayake said that 17 Tigers had arrived in Colombo recently. Two Tiger women suspects were arrested in Kotahena suburb in mid-August. In late July and early August the police closed three lodges providing cheap accommodation to people from north-east, on allegations that they provided refuge to LTTE cadre.
People complain that gangs in Colombo are targeting Tamils. A number of robberies by persons pretending as police officers have been carried out. A gang posing as Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers robbed the passports of a Tamil family from Germany in a Pettah lodge in August.
In mid-March the Supreme Court ordered the release of three Tamils who had suffered torture in custody. Kilinochchi resident Ratnam Gajendrakumar says he was arrested at Thandikulam on 17 November and tortured for three days at the Vavuniya Joseph military camp. Petrol was poured into his eyes impairing his sight.
Batticaloa resident Sothilingam Jeyakanthan alleges he suffered brutal torture at the hands of the police after his arrest on 27 February. Trincomalee resident John Jeyadas detained on 17 March was assaulted at a police station. Ratnam Selvarajah was arrested by the Army on 25 June from a shop in Colombo and tortured in a military camp. He was not handed over to the police within 24 hours as required by Emergency regulations.
Fears of death squads in Colombo were revived following the abduction of S Ravinathan in the Wellawatte suburb on 18 August. His body was found later in Piliyandala.