A.C.Shanthan, LTTE Leader in London rearrested in connection with the terrorist funding and procurement activities

Confirmed reports revealed that Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar, alias A.C.Shanthan (51) the de-facto leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the United Kingdom has been re-arrested in connection with terrorist funding and procurement activities.

Wiltshire Police sources said, “The 51 year old man was arrested by the anti-terrorist units of the metropolitan Police together with Wiltshire Police at Swindon in the Wiltshire Constabulary, today at 6 a.m. at a pre-dawn raid.”

He was re-arrested after three more people were taken for questioning on 29 April.

Shanthan was arrested originally on 28 June 2007, before being released on bail with Golden Lambert later on 22 November 2007.

Shanthan was alleged to have been operating with Anton Balasingham very closely to build up the outfit in London.

He is expected to be produced at a court soon.

Extracted from,
http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/10968

Troops capture another LTTE stronghold "Palampiddi Bridge" - Vavuniya front

Troops on offensive operation in Vavuniya front on Wanni theatre of battle have gained control over an LTTE's stronghold in general area Palampiddi this afternoon, May 06.

According to the sources, troops have captured Palampiddi Bridge following a fierce gun battle which lasts in hours. By monitoring LTTE communication it is confirmed that enemy suffered heavy casualties.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets have launched close air support mission targeting an LTTE stronghold in the same area this afternoon. Air Force sources said that an LTTE stronghold located 1Km north of Palampiddi junction was targeted around 3.40 pm.

Extracted from,
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080506_07

Sri Lankan Drug Lord Held In Tamil Nadu - While Playing Cricket

One of Sri Lanka's biggest drug lords has been finally arrested in Tamil Nadu after Indian authorities, who had been pursuing him for years, nabbed him while he was playing his favourite game - cricket.

Indian official sources are describing the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) arrest of K. Gunasekaran, 42, as a major development and say it is sure to hit the flow of heroin from Pakistan to Sri Lanka.

Guna, as he was widely known, was sought in Sri Lanka, where he reportedly enjoyed close ties with "political bigwigs", links that helped him establish a network to supply drugs to Colombo and other places.

Sri Lankan authorities questioned him after a bomb attack blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in December 1999 killed 26 people and partially blinded then president Chandrika Kumaratunga. The authorities wanted to know if he had links with the LTTE.

Guna continued to operate in Sri Lanka but fled to India in 2004. He settled down in Tamil Nadu, ostensibly to merge with the large community of Sri Lankan Tamils in the sprawling state.

He came on a false Sri Lankan passport, which identified him as Prem Kumar. This helped him carry on his narcotics business - remaining a step ahead of the Indian authorities.

Read more,
http://newspostindia.com/report-52837

Tamil Tigers using electoral list, RCMP say

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans living in Canada have been funding the Tamil Tigers' terrorism campaign through a secret strategy of profiling carried out using Canada's electoral database, the RCMP allege.

In what amounts to the most detailed examination of alleged terrorist fundraising ever filed in a federal court, the national police force claims as much as $50,000 a month was being drawn from bank accounts in Toronto and funnelled to the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.

The Tigers' operation in Canada, responsible for providing 15 per cent of global funds for the secession movement, identified potential donors by postal code and used a "sales team" of locals to extract the cash, alleges the 400-page police affidavit unsealed in the Federal Court of Canada this week.

The affidavit suggests the Toronto offices of the World Tamil Movement - a non-profit organization - may have been generating funds for the Tigers. The RCMP says it has also obtained a significant letter sent to Toronto from the head of the Tamil Tigers. Velupillai Prabhakaran, one of the world's most sought-after fugitives, is said to have urged that Canadian Tamils commit about 15 per cent of the global contribution to his cause.

Read more,
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/

Tigers sought $3M from Canada

RCMP counterterrorism investigators in Toronto have seized a letter signed by the leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers guerrillas directing Canadian Tamils to send him $3-million, according to police files released yesterday by the Federal Court.

The rebel leader's letter, found during a search of the Toronto office of the World Tamil Movement, discusses the need to "intensify the struggle" and ensure that Tamils are "strong enough" to fight "with our full breath," according to the newly unsealed files.

Velupillai Prabhakaran adds that he looks "forward to receiving substantial contribution from the displaced people of Tamil Eelam" and advises the "Canadian office" to provide 15 of the 100 "crores" he needs. A crore is the equivalent of just over $200,000.

The RCMP cited the 2002 letter as evidence the WTM is the "Canadian branch" of the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group fighting a civil war against Sri Lankan government forces. The Tigers want an independent ethnic Tamil state.

Read more,
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=494174

High stakes for Rajapaksa in Eastern Province polls

Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province will, for the first time in 20 years, hold provincial council elections on May 10.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is a front-runner, has high stakes in the elections. Rajapaksa has to win to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the nation and the international community.

By all accounts, the contest is neck and neck. But political pundits believe that the UPFA and its ally, the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), will likely win. Indeed, the UPFA-TMVP combine is very strong, but it is also feared that it may use every stratagem and resource to get the desired result, given the importance of the poll to it.

If Rajapaksa wins, he will have proved that he has the support of all the three ethnic communities in the East for his project to rid the province of the Tamil Tiger terrorists and separatists, and to restore democracy.

Though predominantly Tamil-speaking, the Eastern province comprising the three districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai, is ethnically mixed. The Muslims constitute 39 per cent, the Tamils 36 per cent, and the Sinhalese, 25 per cent.

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http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?

LTTE: Rising Desperation

Two light aircrafts of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out an air attack on the security forces (SFs) forward positions in Welioya, 280-kilometre northeast of Colombo in the morning of April 27, 2008, but no injuries or damages were caused in the ‘air raid’, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara disclosed, adding, "The LTTE planes have returned safely to their hideouts in the Wanni after dropping three bombs."

Earlier, the LTTE took control of the Madhu Catholic Church and asked the priests to remove the famous statue, known as ‘Our Lady of Madhu', from the shrine, leading to the vacation of the church for the first time in 400 years – on April 3, 2008. However, the Tigers left the Church Premises on April 24, after realising that they had been surrounded by the SFs. The Church was finally handed over to the Mannar Bishop on April 26.

The capture of the Church failed to yield desired result – as a base to launch attacks on troops as well as to defame the Government if it attacked and damaged the Church in its bid to throw out the militants – since the LTTE had to evacuate it. But, with the failed air raid, these remained symbolic of the sheer desperation that is creeping into the rebel leadership because of the SFs continuous advances into the LTTE-controlled areas of North, the loss of public support in the East and the global onslaught targeting the organisation’s fund raising and arms procurement agenda and infrastructure across the globe.

The SFs, which gained effective control of the Eastern Province in July 2007, have now been pushing the LTTE further north in their endeavour to completely wipe out the rebellion. The Army has made substantial gains in the battle fields of Mannar, Jaffna and Vavuniya.

Read more,
http://www.ict.org.il/apage/28755.php