An island-wide combined raid, conducted by the Police and the Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police (SLCMP) on Thursday (9) was able to arrest a total of 563 Army personnel who are Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) or considered having deserted their posts.

Believed to be this arrest on Thursday (9) the biggest ever recorded in a single day, those raids after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) declared general amnesty for receipt of formal discharge from their respective regiments have so far arrested 01 officer and 960 other rankers after the general amnesty ended on 31 December, 2016.

During the general amnesty period, a total of 10 officer and 7816 other rankers have reached respective regiments and obtained their legal discharge from respective places, according to the Military Spokesman, Brigadier Roshan Seneviratne.