The Navy captured a remote-controlled plane Thursday after confronting two rebel boats off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka, DPA quoted a military spokesman as saying. The Navy fired on two boats off Thalaimannar, 320 kilometres north of Colombo, after they failed to respond to warning shots fired, the spokesman said. At least four people whom the military identified as Tamil rebels jumped overboard and escaped. One of the boats were partially sunk and the other was captured, it said. In a search of the vessels, the Navy found a remote- controlled aircraft about 2 metres long and a remote-controlled toy helicopter about 30 centimetres long, the spokesman said. Tamil rebels are in possession of two light aircraft and have used them to fly to Colombo and drop two bombs at two oil storage facilities as well as at the main Air Force base adjoining the international airport at Katunayaka, 35 kilometres north of Colombo, early this year. Residents in the north-central part of the country said last week that they spotted two small aircraft flying at a low altitude, and police were trying to ascertain whether they were the same aircraft used by the rebels.
