The Criminal Investigation Department has sealed an underground secret detention complex known as “Gun Site” inside the Trincomalee Naval Base, NewsFirst reported on Tuesday evening, as a long-running probe into wartime-era abductions widens beyond the existing 11-youths disappearance case.
Police told the broadcaster that extensive investigations had revealed the facility was allegedly used to detain nearly 60 individuals, subject them to torture and extort ransom payments, alongside several other serious criminal activities. A magistrate from Trincomalee is scheduled to visit the sealed site on Wednesday, June 18 to carry out an official inspection.
The discovery has produced fresh evidence in court proceedings beyond the existing case concerning the abduction and disappearance of 11 youths from Colombo and its suburbs, in which former Navy Commander Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne was recently named as a suspect. NewsFirst said proceedings relating to a victim identified as Shantha from Kegalle are currently being heard at the Polgahawela Magistrate’s Court, while investigations into the disappearance of two Tamil youths in Colombo have been reported to Colombo Magistrate’s Court No. 3. Cases involving the disappearance of an individual named Pradeep from Ibbagamuwa and two young women from Trincomalee have also been presented before the courts.
Police said individuals who had been detained at the facility, along with persons involved in its operations, have now come forward to provide confidential statements before the magistrate.
The Trincomalee complex sits at the centre of two distinct accountability tracks reopened over the past month: the Colombo Magistrate’s case in which former Navy chief Wijegunaratne was issued summons, and the CID’s June arrest of a 2018 army-soldier abduction suspect linked to the same wider Northern–North Central enforced-disappearance pattern. The formal sealing of “Gun Site” and the planned magistrate’s inspection mark the first physical-site evidence preservation step in the cycle and significantly extend the alleged victim count beyond the original 11-youths case.
Source: Secret ‘Gun Site’ Prison at Trinco Navy Camp Sealed — NewsFirst, June 17.
