The police have arrested Shan Jayasinghe, Deputy Chairman of the Dodangoda Pradeshiya Sabha and an assistant coordinator at the Disaster Management Centre which comes under the purview of Human Rights and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe.

A senior police official told The Island that Jayasinghe had been arrested at his residence at Matugama by a special police squad. He said that Jayasinghe had been detained on information elicited from a close associate, also a resident of Matugama. "We found a T-56 assault rifle at the residence of Jayasinghe’s associate," he said.

Jayasinghe, a close associate of Samarasinghe who switched allegiance to the government had been appointed to the Disaster Management Centre through the Minister’s direct intervention.

Minister Samarasinghe said that the police had violated Jayasinghe’s human rights. Responding to The Island queries, an irate Samarasinghe said that Mirihana police hadn’t even alerted Matugama police or the Senior SP in charge of the area of Jayasinghe’s arrest. The minister said he didn’t know why law enforcement authorities had to detain Jayasinghe at 2 a.m. on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day at least one website quoted an official with the Disaster Management Centre as saying that Jayasinghe had been abducted by an unidentified gang, a claim dismissed by the police. On a directive given by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the police have stepped up operations targeting the underworld and groups having firearms.