KARUNA SENT FROM A JAIL TO AN IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTER

Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan , the former leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) has been released from a British jail and detained in an immigration centre, May 8.

British Home Ministry source said, “ He is detained under immigration powers of the government.”
It is customary for the British authorities to request the Sri Lanka High Commission in London to issue temporary travel documents for him to be deported to Sri Lanka. Those travel documents are different from a passports and a limited to a piece of paper carrying the photograph of the traveller. Sri Lanka High Commission sources in London said so far they have not received a request for the issuance of such a document from the British Home Office.

He fled to Britain, where his wife Vidhyawathie and her three children are living in London and got arrested, November 2 2007 for travelling with a forged diplomatic passport. He was later convicted on the offence and spent time in the jail.

Political analysts say the breakaway of Colonel Karuna, the man who was in charge of the Eastern Province under the LTTE was the beginning of the end of the Tamil terrorist outfit. After his departure the LTTE lost the sprawling Eastern Province to Sri Lanka government security forces. Karuna’s departure is believed to have supplied a pot of gold in intelligence to the Sri Lankan forces to drive away the Tamil Tigers from the province.

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http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items08/090508-1.html

Army captures Adampan Town - Mannar front

Sri Lanka Army soldiers fighting against terrorists on the Mannar front, captured Adampan town area this morning, May 09, defence sources said.

At least 15 terrorists were killed in hours long fighting erupted between security forces and the terrorists in the area, Media Center for National Security (MCNS) said.

Two army soldiers made their supreme sacrifice of the motherland while 7 others suffered injuries, MCNS further said.

Army liberated about 2 square kilometers area, lies between the Neelachcheana road and the dam of the Adampan tank, in the South of Adampan town, following after hours long fighting in last evening.

Extracted from,
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080509_02

Sri Lanka allows foreign media to cover council polls

Sri Lankan government today yielded to the demands of foreign media to allow them to cover this weekend's Eastern Provincial council elections after initial hesitation due to security fears.

"Our apprehensions were only that the foreigners should be protected during the elections. We wanted them to be free from any danger of any possibility of LTTE attack," a defence official told agencies.

"The issue has been sorted out. We have decided to allow the foreigners to cover the elections on producing a valid Media I-card," the official said.

Earlier, it was decided that any foreigner not registered as an election observer cannot be allowed in the Eastern province during the polls. The defence ministry intervened following the objections and decided to reverse the planned restrictions.

Fierce clashes between the Sri Lankan security forces and the LTTE has led to the death of more than 70,000 people since 1983. The government fully liberated the eastern part of the country from the Tamil rebels last July.

Campaigning for the Eastern Provincial Council Elections, scheduled for May 10, ended last night.

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http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=441880&sid=SAS

Brutally Slain Teenage “D.S Sons” Remembered

A SPECIAL MEMORIAL, set up by grateful fellow – students at Borella D.S. Senanayake College in memory of their eight students perished in the brutal LTTE bomb blast at Fort Railway Station on 3rd February 2008 while they were returning home after competing in a baseball tournament in Kandy.

The unveiling of the monument on the college premises coincided with the traditional three – month remembrance day in accordance with Buddhist rites and rituals. The eight-member baseball team of the college, headed by their Master in Charge died in the explosion, triggered by an LTTE woman suicide cadre during the rush hour evening on that fateful day. Twelve innocent lives were lost in the tragedy that shook the nation.

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http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=13038
Photo,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=13038

Four charged in Britain with helping Tamil Tigers: police

British police have charged four men with conspiring to support Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, Scotland Yard said Thursday.

The four were arrested under anti-terror laws and are accused of owning computers, radio equipment and high-power magnets for terrorist purposes. They were to appear in court in London later in the day, said a spokesman.

The men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 in the last two weeks as part of a long-term police investigation into activities linked to the Tamil Tigers, an organization banned in Britain.

Three were detained at the end of April in dawn raids at homes and business addresses in Wales and London. A fourth was arrested this week in the Swindon area of southwest England.

All four have been charged with conspiring to receive equipment for terrorist purposes between January 2003 and December 2006.

Other items which they are accused of procuring include laptops, head torches, circuit boards, lithium coin cell batteries, GPS (global positioning systems) and antenna equipment, transceivers, radios and navigation systems.

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http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iSxfU5QzCjzQ5yrQGVUePygB-nZA

Sri Lanka to open tourism office in Dubai

The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) announced that it has selected Dubai as the base for its Middle East Headquarters as part of its efforts to consolidate on the strong growth from the region which increased by 80.6% in Q1 2008.

The announcement was made on the opening day of Arabian Travel Market 2008, the Middle East's premier travel and tourism event in Dubai.

The Dubai office will be the 6th office in SLTPB’s international network of overseas offices which includes the United Kingdom, India, Germany, France and Russia.

“The opening of an office in Dubai underlines a crucial aspect of our long-term approach to develop powerful ties and build effective partnerships across the region,” said HE Faiszer Mustapha, Deputy Minister of Tourism for Sri Lanka.

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http://www.ameinfo.com/156005.html

Setusamundram project would facilitate LTTE: Swamy

Former Union minister Dr Subramaniam Swamy today told the Supreme Court that national security would be compromised if Sethusamundram canal project is completed ignoring the warnings given by the navy chief as well as director of coast guards according to whom the canal would facilitate the LTTE's activities in India.

Dr Swamy told a bench comprising chief justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Raveendrtan J M Panchal that the canal project would help LTTE to shift its base to Cochin and they will have easy and direct acess from Zafna, LTTE's strong hold in Srilanka to Cochin in Kerala.

Dr Swamy, responding to the query of Justice R V Raveendran asking, who goes in the middle of the sea to offer pooja at Ramsetu also known as Adam's bridge said " we worship sun but we don't have to go to sun." Taking a dig at Tamil Nadu government he contended, in case of Jallikattu, where bulls were subjected to physical torture, the Tamil Nadu government took the stand that it is a matter of faith and in the present case where the faith of millions of Hindu's across the globe is involved the Centre and Karunanidhi government were not be prepared to accept the truth.

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http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?

India reconfiguring its military policy toward Sri Lanka

India's renewed focus on relations with Sri Lanka appears to be a course of action designed to strengthen Indo-Sri Lankan ties due to an expanding Chinese presence in the South Asia region.

The country is reconfiguring its military policy toward Sri Lanka and is exhibiting a more supportive stance toward the government's efforts against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In March, India invited Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant-General Sarath Fonseka to visit and tour Indian operations along the India-Pakistan border. The Sri Lankan general also met with Indian Army General Deepak Kapoor as well as Defense Minister AK Antony, and there was discussion on security measures to eradicate terrorism as well as talks on possible cooperation between India and Sri Lanka.

The visit promoted India's anti-insurgency capabilities while highlighting the common themes and culture that the two militaries share.

Fonseka also visited with India's Lieutenant-General KS Yadava, commander of the Indian Infantry School and both leaders shared information on new warfare strategies. Prior to his departure, Fonseka visited with Sri Lankan Army Officers involved in training at India's Army War College in Madhya Pradesh.

Due primarily to reported human rights violations and a large and supportive Tamil population within its own borders, the Indian government has refrained from directly supporting the Sri Lankan military with offensive weapons systems for use against the LTTE. Instead, it has chosen to provide Sri Lanka with certain defensive military capabilities such as critical intelligence information and radar systems for use in detecting LTTE aircraft.

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http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=18942

LTTE breakaway party should not be forced back to the jungles, say Sri Lankan ministers

Several ministers of the Sri Lanka government said today that the Pilliyan group, a LTTE breakaway party that "came out of the jungle", must not be forced back into the jungle.

Speaking at a press briefing at the parliamentary complex today, a group of senior government ministers said that the allegations leveled against the Pilliyan group are false and fabricated by the United National Party (UNP) to justify its “inevitable” electoral defeat.

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the two victims of election-related murders that have been reported so far were also Pilliyan supporters. Therefore, he said it was not the Pilliyan group that committed violence but was subjected to violence. He added that the election itself is a great victory for the government.

Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa charged the UNP with setting up a bogus election-monitoring mission to spread fallacy on election violations. He alleged that the said group, which is comprised of fulltime UNP supporters, is trying to hoodwink the world as an independent group and is engaging in false propaganda.

Extracted from,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/May6191928JR.html

Voters lists 'most disturbing' items seized in Tamil raids, documents say

Precisely how Elections Canada voters lists ended up in the offices of an alleged terrorist front group is a lingering mystery that Canadian officials say they will likely never solve. But privacy officials now say they are auditing federal practises with an eye to plugging such leaks.

An RCMP affidavit revealed this week in Federal Court states that federal voters lists were among the "most disturbing" items seized in raids on the World Tamil Movement's Toronto offices in 2006. Police said the lists were the type that are sent to federal candidates and ministers for elections, and yet they turned up in the office of the non-profit group, the surnames of ethnic Tamils highlighted in yellow.

Such lists were once publicly posted, but they are now distributed only to Elections Canada officials and candidates' campaigns. They are released expressly to help advance Canadian democracy, and misusing them is an offence under the Elections Act that can lead to a $1,000 fine or three months in jail.

The RCMP investigation seeks to prove the non-profit was a fundraising arm for foreign rebels who have been known to use child soldiers and suicide bombers in their bid for a separate state in Sri Lanka.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080507.wxtamilssb07/

LTTE forced Canadian Tamils to sign pre-payment forms

Canadian police have seized documents showing Tamil Tigers leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran soliciting money from Tamils here for his armed struggle in Sri Lanka.

The documents, seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in raids on the offices of the World Tamil Movement in Toronto and Montreal, show a 2002 letter by Prabhakaran, asking Tamils in Canada to send him 15 of the ``100 crore'' rupees he needs for his armed struggle. Fifteen crore Sri Lankan rupees is equal to about three million Canadian dollars.

The World Tamil Movement (WTM) is the alleged front organization in Canada for raising funds for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE).

Apart from coercing the local Tamils to pay it, the WTM (read the PTTE) also made Canadian Tamils visiting the LTTE-held territory in Sri Lanka to sign pre-payment forms.

The WTM first came under the scanner in 2002. After a long probe, its offices were raided in 2006. The police also raided its Toronto and Montreal offices last month after a Toronto-based Tamil Prapaharan Thambithurai was held in Vancouver for raising funds for the LTTE.

The RCMP produced the seized documents in a federal court seeking forfeiture of the WTM's funds and assets as it raised funds for terrorist financing which was banned in Canada in 2001.

The documents, which made public Friday, show that the WTM serves as a foreign branch of the LTTE for raising money for it.

Listing how the WTM raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and sent them abroad for buying weapons for the LTTE, the police also revealed its modus operandi.

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http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=77058

wanni oparation 04.05.2008

Source,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fs2z4FmYXw

RCMP has 'definitive evidence' of group's links to Tamil Tiger

The RCMP has uncovered what it calls "definitive evidence" that money collected in Canada is bankrolling guerrilla violence in Sri Lanka, according to newly-unsealed police documents.

Tuesday, Crown prosecutors handed defence lawyers hundreds of pages of documents and photos outlining the results of an RCMP investigation into alleged Tamil Tigers fundraising around Toronto.

Included among the papers was a letter seized from the Toronto office of the World Tamil Movement. Written by a senior Tamil Tigers official, the letter is a thank-you for earlier donations it says were "invaluable in retaining our military strength."

"Every cent you gathered by going house to house enabled us [to] defeat the enemy in the battlefield, and we look up on you with gratitude," says the letter, on Tamil Tigers letterhead and signed by V. Manivannan, who heads the rebel group's International Secretariat.

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http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=496633

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