Defence Ministry Admits Putting Up Posters

The Defence Ministry yesterday admitted that it had put up posters offering huge incentives for would-be suicide bombers if they gave up their destructive mission, ending the week long debate on who had put up the posters.

"Those posters had been put up by the Ministry of Defence and accordingly, now there is an opportunity to all would-be suicide bombers to surrender," Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told the Daily Mirror yesterday.

In response to the earlier claims by the government that the posters were not put up by any state institution, the spokesman said, "earlier we were not aware about such thing, now the ministry is confirming that posters had been put up by the ministry."

The Daily Mirror reported on March 19 that several movie posters were seen mainly in Kotahena and Wellawatte offering would-be bombers Rs. 10 million or the equivalent in US dollars for a new life here or overseas.

The posters urged the bombers to understand that life was precious and LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran should sacrifice his son or daughter if he was sincere about the Tamil cause.

"The contents of the posters are correct, the Ministry is ready to offer that money, but after a proper investigation," the spokesman added.

Would-be suicide bombers have been urged to call telephone number 1233 if they have been tasked to carry out a suicide attack saying security would be provided to them if they surrendered.

The posters said would-be suicide bombers who provided information were assured full confidentiality and told they could also be sent overseas with their immediate families if they so desired for security reasons.

Earlier, the police said that it has launched a probe into the mysterious posters appearing in certain parts of Colombo.

March 30, 2008