The original owners are now turning up to lay their claims for ownership.
Nearly 300,000 civilians left the battle zones in the former LTTE territory in the north as the military crushed the LTTE in May 2009 ending its over three decades old battle to carve out a separate Tamil homeland. The vehicles they owned were left abandoned.
"Unclaimed vehicles lying on the stretch of the final battle line in the Mullaitivu area are being fast cleared with their original owners claiming them," said Brigadier Jagath Wijetilleke, a senior military commander.
Military officials claimed the vehicles had been brought to the north mainly from the south through fraudulent means or by the use of force.
"Some vehicles were stolen while number plates of others had been substituted," Wijetilleke said.
The vehicles forcibly taken from the south were sold to unsuspecting northerners or deployed for LTTE' use. Nearly 100 people visit the area daily where the vehicles are parked. The government had on many occasions published the numbers of these vehicles and the genuine owners had cleared them.
