Home News Feature Govt dismisses LTTE camp claim, says suspect sought to fuel communal divisions
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Govt dismisses LTTE camp claim, says suspect sought to fuel communal divisions

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By The Pulseline News Desk

The Government has dismissed claims that an LTTE training camp was being maintained in Kilinochchi, with Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala revealing in Parliament that the individual who had made the claim had allegedly used multiple identities and had a history of criminal allegations.

Making a special statement in Parliament, Wijepala has identified the individual as one Sangeeth Jayasekara, a resident of Boralesgamuwa, who had recently held a media briefing claiming to have discovered an LTTE training camp in the Pallai area of Kilinochchi.

The Minister has said Jayasekara had been arrested and remanded for 14 days following investigations into the claims.

According to Wijepala, investigators have found that the suspect was in possession of two fake identity cards and had used seven different addresses. He had also been named as a suspect in three separate criminal cases, including cases involving alleged fraud.

The Minister has further alleged that Jayasekara had falsely represented himself as a doctor.

Wijepala has said the suspect had previously worked as a consultant attached to certain ministerial staff, adding that authorities were now investigating how those appointments had been made.

Following the claims made at the media briefing, authorities had inspected the location identified by the suspect in Kilinochchi. However, investigators had found no evidence that the site had been used as an LTTE training camp.

Instead, the location was identified as a cultivation site, the Minister has said.

Wijepala has accused the suspect of deliberately misleading the public and attempting to create divisions between communities by making the allegations.

He has stressed that authorities had received no information indicating terrorist activity at the location.

“There will be no room for terrorism or attempts to use this issue to incite racial or communal divisions,” the Minister has said.

The Government had earlier rejected social media reports claiming that an LTTE training camp was being maintained in Kilinochchi.

Cabinet Spokesman Minister Nalinda Jayatissa had subsequently provided further details on the location, saying it was situated in the Kannagipuram-Mukkanpam area of the Kilinochchi District, on land gazetted as a forest reserve in 1919.

According to Jayatissa, the dispute surrounding the property was not related to terrorism but concerned alleged illegal cultivation and construction on State land.

He had said the location had already been the subject of court proceedings, with reports of forest clearing and unauthorised construction being made to forest authorities since 2025.

Seven cases had also been filed against an individual identified as Thyagarasa Kuladeepan over activities allegedly carried out at the site, Jayatissa had said.

The Cabinet spokesman had said approximately 10 acres had initially been cleared, with the cleared area later expanded to around 20 acres for aloe vera and vegetable cultivation.

A three-storey building had also been constructed at the site and was being used for an apparel manufacturing operation, according to Jayatissa.

The Kilinochchi Magistrate’s Court had ordered Kuladeepan to vacate the land in February. However, Jayatissa had said the order had allegedly not been complied with.

Activities including sand mining using heavy machinery had also continued at the location, he had added.

The Government has therefore maintained that the controversy surrounding the site centres on alleged illegal occupation of State land, unauthorised construction, cultivation and sand mining, rather than the operation of an LTTE training facility.

The revelations in Parliament come amid heightened sensitivity over claims relating to LTTE activity in the North, with the Government warning that unverified allegations could be exploited to create ethnic tensions.

Authorities are continuing investigations into the individual who made the claims.

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