Sri Lankan authorities have arrested a man who had admitted to being the driver of a ‘white van’ squad that murdered people and fed bodies to crocodiles, as well as another who claimed to have been the victim in a press conference last month.
Douglas Anthony Fernando, the man who had admitted to being the driver of a ‘white van’ and Athula Sanjaya Masanyake, a man who had come out as a victim of the ‘white van’ abduction have both been arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department.
Sri Lanka’s white van squads abducted, tortured and murdered victims before feeding their bodies to crocodiles, said Fernando. He was introduced by Sri Lanka’s former health minister Rajitha Senaratne as a white van driver who had personally witnessed kidnappings and torture.
Fernando told reporters that white van abductions were apparently carried out in accordance with the orders of current Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and with the knowledge of personnel attached to the Sri Lankan police and army, including a brigadier and major. He went on to describe how those who were abducted were tortured and killed in various parts of the island, including one site in Monaragala. At this particular location, the bodies of those who had been killed were allegedly removed of their organs and fed to crocodiles in a nearby reservoir.
Masanyake also described his experiences as a victim of one such white van abduction.
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The arrests come as Tamil families are continuing their protest, demanding information on the whereabouts of their loved ones that had disappeared under the Rajapaksa’s regime.
