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“In Sri Lanka there is a mythology<br />
surrounding what are called the<br />
‘white vans’. Whenever a person<br />
who is an opponent, a critic of the<br />
government or a suspected LTTE<br />
member goes missing, it is blamed<br />
on the ‘white vans’. I can say that<br />
my special group …ran the white<br />
van operations as directed by<br />
Gotabaya. We would put a sack<br />
over their heads; we would tie their<br />
hands behind their back. We would<br />
perform a number of actions to get<br />
the person to talk.”<br />
Witness 47<br />
“At Joseph Camp we had about four such vans.<br />
These vans did not have license plates and all<br />
the side and back windows were tinted. No one<br />
could see inside. All of our vans were Toyota Hiace<br />
models. When were ordered to abduct a specific<br />
target we never wore uniforms. We always looked<br />
like ordinary civilians…When we abducted a<br />
person they would immediately be tied up and<br />
blindfolded. This was so they did not know where<br />
we were taking them. We were never masked. We<br />
were not afraid of being identified or later tried in<br />
a court for what we did.”<br />
Witness 67<br />
133
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