The Sri Lanka's Special Task Force (STF) opened fire on four men in a vehicle, for alleged involvement in sand smuggling activities in Kudathanai, Vadamarachchi East.

The incident, which occurred last Friday, led to a suspect from Thunnalai being arrested and three other passengers escaping. Local police are currently looking for the other passengers and have seized their Hunter vehicle they left at the scene of the incident.

The STF opened fire at the men after they were allegedly making an attempt to flee from being intercepted during illegal sand smuggling activities. The tyre of the vehicle exploded and crashed into a tree in which one of accused suspects ended up getting caught up in a metal fence.

Illegal sand mining has been an long-occurring issue over recent years, not only for its extensive environmental impact across the North-East, but also for its role in the hostility between local Tamils and Sri Lankan security forces. Last year, an unarmed Tamil man was shot dead by Sri Lankan army officers during a supposed confrontation about sand smuggling. State-supported paramilitary organisations are known to be involved in illegal sand mining which has resulted in serious environmental damage across districts in the Tamil homeland such as Mullaitivu.

Tamil civil societies have expressed concern over this and claimed that state security forces have used the issue to extend its ruthless surveillance and targeting of locals and insist the police are taking bribes to protect actual perpetrators. Locals who have protested and opposed against these sand smuggling efforts are often risking their life in doing so. Last month, a Tamil man was assaulted and hospitalised when confronting illegal sand miners. In 2010, Ketheeswaran Thevarajah, a Tamil youth who was documenting the environmental damage caused by the EPDP’s sand mining operation in Vadamarachchi, was shot dead.