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Sri Lanka arrests looters behind nationalist riots COLOMBO, June 28, 2014 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's police arrested key suspects involved in fuelling religious riots and looting, an official said Saturday as minority Muslims expressed fears of more unrest ahead of Ramadan.Police said a total of eight people directly linked to the June 15 anti-Muslim riots were arrested this week and recovered gems and jewellery looted from two shops that were targeted during the violence.

"With the help of CCTV footage and the recently established (police) intelligence network we arrested the suspects along with the stolen goods," senior superintendent Athula Weerasinghe said.

The violence which erupted in the coastal resort of Alutgama spilled over into the neighbouring international tourist resorts of Beruwala and Bentota.

Weerasinghe said jewellery worth more than 1.5 million rupees ($11,500) looted from two jewellery shops in Bentota was recovered. Official estimates the riot damage at 200 million rupees. Four people were killed and 80 wounded in the worst religious riots in recent decades.

Sri Lanka's media as well as rights groups have accused the police of failing to prevent extremist Buddhist mobs attacking Muslims who constitute 10 percent of the country's 20 million population.

Police, however, said investigations showed there was a strong criminal element that fuelled religious tensions. Earlier, police had arrested 55 suspects including both Buddhists as well as Muslims, but the eight arrested this week are the first to be held for looting and directly involved in attacking shops.

The announcement of the latest arrests came as the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL), an umbrella group of 48 Muslim organisations, petitioned police chief N. K. Illangakoon expressing fears of more violence against their minority community during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"We are concerned that the root causes to the problems related to the attacks on the Muslim community and other minorities has not been addressed and appropriate action taken to enforce justice," the MCSL said. MCSL president N. M. Ameen told AFP they would mark Ramadan in a low key because of the fear of more hate attacks.

Last week, Muslim-owned businesses shut down in Sri Lanka's capital to protest against deadly riots by extremist Buddhists.

Muslims as well as a majority of moderate Buddhists have pressed for action against the Buddhist Force, or BBS, which is seen as enjoying patronage of senior government figures.

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Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said security would be stepped up in Colombo Monday following reports that a Muslim group was planning a demonstration to denounce an alleged arson attack at a Muslim-owned shop over the weekend.

"We have reports of a hartal (work stoppage) on Monday," Rohana told AFP. "We are making arrangements to ensure that there is no trouble. There will be tighter security."

He dismissed the barrage of media criticism Sunday that police should take the blame for anti-Muslim riots carried out by hardline Buddhists a week ago which left four people dead, 80 wounded, and hundreds of homes and shops destroyed.

"It is unfair to blame one individual, there are so many factors involved," Rohana said, referring to a call for Inspector General of Police (IGP) N. K. Illangakoon to step down.

The privately-run The Nation weekly took the unusual step Sunday of leading its front page with an editorial, with the blunt headline: "The IGP must resign".

Other media joined in blasting officials for failing to rein in a hardline Buddhist group known as the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS or the Buddhist Force), blamed for much of the unrest.

"Arrest him," the Sunday Leader newspaper demanded in a headline, referring to the head of the BBS, Galagodaatte Gnanasara, who has publicly denied causing trouble.

Sri Lanka's Sunday Times said the burning down of the Muslim-owned No-Limit clothing store outside Colombo on Saturday "is an indication that some people might want this violence to spread".

Police were investigating the cause of the blaze, which Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem, the most senior Muslim in President Mahinda Rajapakse's cabinet, described Saturday as an arson attack.

Rohana said forensic experts were expected to visit the charred building on Monday.

- Government accused of links to BBS -

The Sunday Times said a majority of Buddhists in the country did not support the extremist views of the few monks who were behind the hate campaign, and that they should be dealt with before the unrest escalates further.

Some reports also echoed charges by the main opposition United National Party that patronage by senior government figures may have held police back from acting against the BBS.

The UNP has accused the country's powerful defence secretary and president's younger brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, of backing the BBS.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse had opened a Buddhist cultural centre at the southern town of Galle in March last year in the company of BBS leaders, while President Mahinda Rajapakse opened a Buddhist centre with a BBS leader in Colombo in April 2011.

Justice Minister Hakeem has strongly criticised the BBS and has asked the president to order an independent probe into last week's riots targeting Muslims, who account for some 10 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 20 million.

Hakeem, in a statement issued on Saturday night, blamed the government for failing to control the BBS, which last year led a successful campaign to take halal certification off food sold to non-Muslims in the majority-Buddhist nation.

"Irrespective of who is responsible for the terrible events that unfolded... none would dispute that it was a serious dislocation of the ability of the state to maintain the rule of law," Hakeem said after an emergency meeting Saturday with the president.

The president has said he is ordering a probe into "recent disturbances".

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