COLOMBO: Amidst warnings by the main Opposition, the United National Party (UNP) that the country was heading towards anarchy the Sri Lankan Police chief Victor Perera on Tuesday admitted that a “large number” of police officers and troops had been arrested on charges of abduction and extortion.

His comments come after ten bodies, riddled with gun shots and burn marks surfaced from two areas in the country

Five bodies with gun shots were found in Muthurajawela, a marsh near Colombo last week end and five more bodies were found in the Anuradhapura district on Monday.

Amidst wide scale criticisms from human rights groups and the main Opposition United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police said “unlimited money” will be offered as a reward for information of those involved in kidnappings and killings.

“We have arrested a large number of police and servicemen in connection with such activities,” Perera claimed.

“The government is giving way to a state of anarchy. The government should remember it is responsible for the safety of people,” Tissa Attanayake, General Secretary of the United National Party (UNP) said.

Meanwhile, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress has appealed to the UN to send a United Nations Peace Keeping Force to the country, as the Civil Monitoring Committee on Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances said it has recorded one hundred disappearances.

Sources say the number could be even higher than official records indicate.

“Many of the disappearances are taking place in remote areas in the north east and these could go unrecorded”, a social worker said.

In his letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, All Ceylon Tamil Congress President Apapthuray Vinayagamoorthy alleged abductions, killings and illegal arrests which continue in North, East and Colombo were carried out by the government Security Forces assisted by a Para Military Group.

Vinayagamoorthy quoted the UNHCR December, 2006 report stating that: “Tamils in Colombo are especially vulnerable to abductions, disappearances and killings.

‘‘Such actions are allegedly conducted by the paramilitary “White vans” suspected to be associated with the security forces”.

A panel of global jurists last week said Anti-terrorism laws in Sri Lanka have led to widespread and systematic rights abuses, charging government forces of extra-judicial killings and torture.

The panel was appointed in 2005 by the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists to investigate the impact of “terrorism” and counter-terrorism measures on the rule of law and human rights.

Meanwhile, on Sunday police said two Sinhalese nationals, a senior Defence Ministry official and a Director of a non governmental organisation were taken into custody by the Terrorist Investigation Department for alleged links with the LTTE.

In recent weeks more than 20 suspects, many of them Sinhalese have been arrested by the police for alleged ‘links’ with the LTTE.

Last week the Finance Director of a Sinhalese newspaper ‘Maubima’ was arrested by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) for being connected with the Tiger rebels.

In November last year, a young female Tamil journalist, Munusamy Parameshawary, attached to the same paper was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and is still being held in custody despite several local and international appeals for her release.

A month ago three more Sinhalese journalists were arrested for being allegedly affiliated to the LTTE.

Amnesty International has called on authorities to ensure that the journalists being held by the TID are not tortured or ill-treated.

Meanwhile the family of a former Eastern University Vice Chancellor, Professor S. Ravindranath, abducted from his Colombo residence last December, pleaded through local newspapers for his release.

Professor Ranvidranath is believed to have been abducted by the LTTE break away faction known generally as the ‘para military group’ and headed by former LTTE eastern leader, Karuna.

The fate of the former Vice Chancellor, Prof. S. Ravindranath and the other Sinhalese and Tamils abducted remain a mystery as Sri Lanka finds itself immersed in a general fear psychosis amidst raging fighting between government troops and the Tiger guerrillas in the north-east.