Army awaiting govt. nod to eliminate Aava threat 

by Norman Palihawadana-October 30, 2016, 12:00 pm 

Army could easily accomplish the task of tracking down the so-called Aava Group and eliminating the security threat it posed if the government gives the nod, Army Spokesman Brig Roshan Seneviratne said yesterday.

"If we come out of the camps in the North then there would be an outcry against it. Similarly, when we confine ourselves within the camps some in the South criticise us. There is a need for political leadership to decide what we should do. If we are given orders we are ready to come out and neutralise this security threat," Brig Seneviratne told The Island.

He said that the so-called Aava group was nothing but an underworld gang simply glorified by a section of the media. "They have mentioned eelam in a recent handbill. This should be nipped in the bud."

Brig Seneviratne said that the group had maintained a low profile after its initial forays but suddenly come out again after the recent killing of two undergraduates and the attendant turmoil in the North.

In January 2014, Kopai and Atchchuvely police stations arrested seven members of the Ava group. The police also seized several weapons, hand grenades and seven motorcycles.

The group which has named themselves as Aava Group was led by a person called Kumakeshan Vinodan alias Ava, who is now under custody. The group of about 20 young gangsters is responsible for a series of crimes including kidnapping, robberies and assaulting a police officer, police said at that time. Another underworld gang leader known as Senthuran, who headed an extortion gang is now leading the Ava group, according to sources.

Two policemen, a sergeant and a constable attached to the State Intelligence Service were attacked with swords in Chunnakam on Oct. 23 and hospitalized with injuries.

Later hand bills were distributed by the Aava group in some areas of Jaffna claiming that they had attacked the police in retaliation for the death of two Jaffna University students recently due to police shooting.