Are we sitting on a power keg with a short fuse?

Bombs, bombs everywhere:

Once again terrorists have attempted to blow off the tower supporting the high tension power lines that runs over Kuruniawatte land at Orugodawatte- Wellampitiya last Tuesday.

Ostensibly the intention of the terrorists were to plunge the country in total darkness to orchestrate their sinister plan. So far we have no clue as to what the terrorists were planning that day. No one knows whether they were planning blow up some vital installation in the city or elsewhere and no one seems to have any answers to these hypothesis. An thorough investigation has to be done to uncover the dark truth buried among other factors.

Wellampitiya Police who visited the scene at Kuruniawatte where the tower was located had found the explosion had slightly damaged a leg of the massive Tower.

Around 500 grams of C4 explosives is believed to have been used in the blast. Had the explosion occurred in the night demolishing the tower the results would have been catastrophic. Some parts of the country would have been plunged into total darkness for several hours before power was restored. But fortunately the explosion had occurred in the morning around 6.50 a.m.

OIC (Crimes) Wellampitiya Police station Inspector Ranjith Samaranayake said the Tower supporting the high tension wires had been erected at a land belonging to a businessman. For security reasons the land had been cordoned off and guarded by two watchers.

The explosion had occurred on Tuesday around 6.30 a.m. that was triggered by a remote timing device. The surprising thing was how did any one have access to the tower without being noticed by the watchers if they were on duty.

In fact, the two watchers had failed to notice the bomb in the morning. No body knows when the bomb was fitted to the tower. Are the two watchers culpable for the criminal act. Did they work hand in glove with terrorists for some payment? Did they allow terrorist to infiltrate in to the high security zone and plant a bomb knowingly.

During the last decade terrorists blew up several Transformers in the city and in suburban areas plunging areas into pitch darkness. Policemen posted in mufti near Transformers were successful in arresting several suspects from the Eastern province. Police found that several of them were gold and silver smiths who had found employment in jewellery shops in the city.

Meanwhile Police sources said they were investigating whether the land owner himself wanted the removal of the tower from his premises in order to dispose the land for a good price. What ever the reason the police will have to get to the bottom of the story.

The plausible question is how did any one smuggle a bomb into the premises without being noticed by the watchers. The tower is located in close proximity to the Orugodawatte railway crossing. According to police the explosion had created a crater two feet wide below the tower.

Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) sources said even if the entire Tower was blown off during night only some parts of the country would have plunged into total darkness and not the entire country. CEB has taken measures to restore power supply in the city in the event of an emergency.

The Tower at Kuruniawatte is connected to the Kelanitissa power generating plant and to a sub station at Biyagama that generates around 220,000 Watts. Soon after the explosion the police and the army led a cordon and search operation in the area and took in for questioning around 45 persons including the two watchers. Four persons suspected to be involved in the bomb explosion were produced before court and remanded pending further investigations, Police said.

In a separate incident last Wednesday at the Wellawatte beach a man who was taking a stroll on the beach early in the morning had seen a wrapped parcel in black paper half buried on the beach. Suspecting it to be a bomb the man ran to the nearest police check point at Harmers lane and informed the policemen on duty. The matter was informed to the Wellawatte police who then summoned the Police Special Task Force (STF) Bomb delousing team.

The STF officers dug the parcel from the beach and found a 15 kilo bomb which they deloused. OIC Crimes Wellawatte, Chief Inspector Wijewickrema investigating the case said that he suspects that someone who had the bomb would have buried it on the beach during the Cordon and Search operations of Lodges last week. A similar bomb was found near the Reserve Police Offices Mess at the Marine drive almost two years ago.

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