Vigilant police officer prevents death and destruction in Borella:

Curiosity saves the day

Sunday Crime by Jayampathy Jayasinghe

Hardly a week passed after the abortive plot to assassinate the Pakistani High Commissioner Bashir Wali Mohamend last week when the army vehicle escorting the diplomat was caught up in a massive claymore explosion killing seven people including four commandos.

Probably the same conspirators last Monday made a similar attempt to explode a 15 kilo claymore mine adjacent to the Petrol filling station at D.S. Senanayake Mawatha Borella. But fortunately no one was injured as the attempt to detonate the claymore mine was foiled by a curious policeman.

The policeman noticed a pedal bicycle parked in a conspicuous spot along the D.S. Senanayake Mawatha. After noticing a wooden box fitted on to the pillion of the bicycle he boldly walked up to it and examined it not knowing what the content was. Of course few would have taken notice of a push cycle parked in a street corner as hundreds of such bicycles are parked on our roads.

Gratitude

Death, mayhem and destruction to property would have resulted had the claymore mine of that magnitude exploded. However providence saved us from another catastrophe where hundreds of people mingling around D. S. Senanayake Mawatha at that time of the hour would have perished or got maimed for the rest of their lives had the explosion occurred.

Our heartfelt gratitude goes to the duty conscious Police Constable for averting such a disaster in Colombo. He should be commended forthwith for his alertness in detecting the deadly claymore mine concealed among other items such as radish, rotten tomatoes, some green leaves and eggs.

This was the first occasion where a deadly claymore mine concealed in a wooden box fitted to a pillion of a push cycle was discovered in Colombo. The Policeman on duty there reacted swiftly by cordoning off the road and summoning the Special Task Force (STF) commandos of the police to the scene. The skilled commandos deloused the claymore mine averting a disaster.

Readers may recall of an explosion that took place almost a decade ago at Torrignton Square Colombo 7, near the Public Administration Ministry. A wooden hand cart with king coconuts pushed by a vendor suddenly exploded killing several persons and causing destruction to property in the vicinity.

It revealed subsequently that the bomb was targeted at a VIP who was due to arrive at the Public Administration office that day. The bomb however exploded prematurely killing the man who pushed the cart as well.

These are however some lessons the public and the security forces should take cognizance of in dealing with such situations. The public should be more observant and should tip off the police when they spot something suspicious. The police alone sometimes cannot cope with such situations due to stress and strain and the multitude of functions in their work.

Reward

Meanwhile the police should handsomely reward the persons for tipping them off about a suspicious lorry which was parked opposite a boutique at Wattala Mabole a fortnight ago.

A haul of explosives and ammunition including eight claymore mines, fifteen hand bombs, one magnet bomb, two -T-56 rifles, three magazines, one pistol, a rifle, ten bomb detonators, 500 ammunition and other accessories were found concealed in the lorry. It was revealed the explosives were being transported to stage a massive attack in Colombo.

The two suspected LTTE cadres who had travelled in the lorry swallowed cyanide capsules following their arrest. One person died while the other was saved after being hospitalised.

The Colombo Crime Division (CCD) headed by SSP Sarath Lugoda said that they were investigating the Claymore mine at Borella. "We have interrogated around 40 persons but no one has been taken into custody so far. We didn't come across a remote controller at the scene that could detonate the claymore bomb" he said.

Meanwhile police sources said that nobody knows for sure who the target was. But it was possible that the bomb was aimed at a VIP travelling to parliament that day or at some army personnel travelling towards Narahenpita.

"They could have even detonated the claymore mine while a crowded bus was passing by to create mayhem and chaos in the city. It is clear that a dormant terrorist cell had been re-activated to carry out the attacks in Colombo." source said.