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The Navy has launched a full-scale probe into a clandestine operation, which is believed to have siphoned off nearly a million litres of bulk fuel to the LTTE during the last 12 months. Meanwhile the Navy investigation followed the discovery of a Sea Tiger flag in a Ceylon Petroleum Corporation bowser on Tuesday at the Galle harbour, naval sources said. The bowser driver, when questioned, told harbour police and naval investigators that he got the flag from a crewman of a foreign trawler to which he supplied fuel. He also said that he asked for a duster from the crewman, but he explained that he did not realise it was a flag depicting the Tiger emblem. The Naval sources said their scrutiny of past records of fuel purchases at Galle by the trawler owning company have revealed an unusually heavy purchase rate during 2000 and January 2001. According to the CPC Bulk Fuel Depot in Galle, the company has bought only 220,100 litres of marine diesel in 1999, whereas in 2000, it bought 633,400 litres. Significantly, it has purchased 211,400 of diesel up to date in January 2001 alone. According to the sources, this is an excessively large quantity of fuel for a simple trawler and they suspect that most of the fuel could have been illegally supplied to the LTTE in the deep sea. The flag has been sent to the Navy Headquarters in Colombo for further analysis.
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