Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police (SLCMP) FDC

The Sri Lanka Corps of Military Police (SLCMP) is the branch of the Sri Lankan Army responsible for supervising military personnel, and providing a military police presence on military premises, during operations, and during exercises. It consists of three regular regiments and is headquartered at the Regiment Centre Polhengoda in Colombo. Like other military police units worldwide, they wear white bands with their barrack uniforms, as well as white leggings.

The police tasks in the Sri Lankan Army are mainly executed by the SLCMP and the Regimental Police.

With the expansion of the Sri Lankan Army, the concept of the Regimental Centre was introduced to ensure the smooth operation of the army. This makes that all units of a given regiment fall under a regimental centre. The regimental centre is led by the Commanding Officer of the Centre, under the supervision of the Regimental Commanding Officer/Colonel. The SLCMP Regimental Centre was established in 1990.
The PM functions under the command of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Army HQ. The PM exercises overall command and control over all military police activities, while the Deputy Provost General performs functions previously performed by COs of the SLCMP.
The SLCMP does not own any vehicles of its own, but as part of the Sri Lankan Army, it utilizes all available types of vehicles of that army.

Being established in 1990 means that the SLCMP existed for twenty-five years in 2015.
To commemorate this momentous occasion, a special envelope (FDC) with a stamp was issued. I stumbled upon one on one of the auction sites and immediately placed a bid.

FDC to the honour of the 25th anniversary of the SLCMP

Original picture of the image on the FDC

In addition I sent a message to the advertiser, asking if he has more copies of this FDC. His response:

"Hello, I have two more identical envelopes. The stamps haven't been issued. Normally, in Sri Lanka, special envelopes with stamps aren't sold at the post office, only the envelopes themselves. Would you like the other two envelopes I have? I can put them on Delcampe."

Nothing heard about this anymore. Neither on Delcampe nor on eBay. Unfortunately.

But where do these stamps come from?

These stamps on the special envelopes are requested by an individual or company to commemorate a special occasion. The postal service then prints the stamps specifically for that person. The price of such printed stamps is higher than the actual value printed on the stamp. This way, the postal service earns extra money. These stamps are never sold at post offices. Only the person or company that requested them receives them. Such stamps rarely appear on the market.

Conclusion: These are personalized stamps that are requested from the Sri Lankan postal service and delivered to the applicant.
If you come across such an envelope, I recommend to buy it, as they are rare finds.

Nico Helling

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