Officers from Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force detained two men in Kilinochchi for the alleged possession of cannabis last week.

The Island reports that two people were arrested after being “intercepted” by a team of officers from STF base at Mullaitivu”.

The latest arrests come as drug use in the North-East has increased since the end of the armed conflict.

Human rights lawyer and former leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Kumar Ponnambalam, was remembered today on the 18th anniversary of his death.

Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling on him to “personally intervene” to assure the release of fishermen who have been detained by Sri Lankan security forces.

Writing to the Indian premier just hours after 13 fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy, Mr Palaniswami urged Mr Modi to “take up the issue of apprehension of Tamil Nadu fishermen in their traditional waters with the highest authorities in the Sri Lankan government so as to ensure the safety and security of Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu".

He stated that 84 fishermen and 59 fishing boats were being detained by Sri Lankan forces.

Two people have been arrested in connection with the death of a British national in Maligawatte, Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

The death is being treated as suspicious by Sri Lankan police after the body was found with a wound to the face. 

Both suspects are residents of Maligawatta, the Daily Mirror reported. 
 

Defying calls for the military to withdraw from Tamil civilian life, the Sri Lankan army continued to hold a series of events throughout the Christmas period across the North-East.

Sri Lankan navy officers arrested 13 Indian fishermen on Wednesday, seizing two fishing trawlers. 

The men, from Rameswaran, Tamil Nadu, were accused of entering Sri Lanka's waters. 

The men were detained last night at the navy base before being handed over to the Jaffna Fisheries Authorities today. 

UK parliamentarians, currently on a visit to Sri Lanka, met with the spokesperson of the Tamil National Alliance on Thursday, as well as the Sri Lankan president,  Maithripala Sirisena.

Sri Lanka's minister for law and order, Sagala Ratnayaka on Thursday attempted to explain the government's failure to investigate and prosecute the killing of five Tamil students by Special Task Force officers, by claiming they were unable to proceed as the main witness was abroad. 

Responding to a tweet by the US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Atul Keshap calling for justice for the massacre, Mr Ratnayaka tweeted,

The paramilitary leader and former chief minister of the Eastern Province, Pillayan, and several of his associates appeared at the Batticaloa High Court on Wednesday over the 2005 assassination of the TNA MP, Joseph Pararajasingham.

Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, was presented to the court alongside his paramilitary associates Edwin Silva Krishnanantharaja alias Prathip Master and Kananayakam alias Gajan Mama, as well as the military intelligence officer M. Khaleel and former Sri Lankan soldier Mathusinghe alias Vinoth.

Security around the Batticaloa court complex and surrounding area was heavily beefed up for the arrival of the suspects.

The five students summarily executed by Sri Lankan Special Task Force troops 12 years ago were remembered on Tuesday by locals on the Trincomalee beach on which they were killed.