India breaks another LTTE weapon smuggling ring

Sun, Apr 5 04:11 PM New Delhi, April 5 (IANS) India has broken yet another Tamil Tiger ring that sought to smuggle war material to the rebels, arresting four men including a British national of Sri Lankan origin in Chennai.

Acting painstaking sleuthing, the four were formally detained Friday from the southern Chennai suburb of Thiruvanmaiyur. They included a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

It is the first crackdown on the LTTE this year in Tamil Nadu, which is separated from Sri Lanka by a strip of sea and where political passions are running high due to the war against the Tigers in the island that has reached a decisive stage.

Informed sources said the LTTE activist was known only as Sahanthan. He belonged to Mullaitivu in Sri Lanka's north - where the LTTE is waging a last-ditch battle to save itself from annihilation - and had arrived in India about a year ago.

His mission was to coordinate activities aimed at supplying the LTTE war material, the sources told IANS. He travelled extensively in Tamil Nadu for this purpose.

Arrested with him was British national Jayanathan, who flew into Tamil Nadu recently and who reportedly has had links with the LTTE in the past.

The other two arrested men were identified simply as Babu of Rameswaram and Guhan of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. Both are Indians and said to be linked to the Vidhuthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a pro-LTTE group in Tamil Nadu that is now allied to Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK.


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