Sri Lankan's dreams 'bombed'

by Louie Rosella

On Sept. 14, Ramanan Mylvaganam was supposed to start his dream job at Microsoft's international headquarters in the U.S. But, those plans came to a halt this week after the 29-year-old computer engineer from Malton was charged in connection with a North American network that police allege provides weapons and other materials to an organization in Sri Lanka that Canada considers a terrorist group.

Mylvaganam was arrested Tuesday night at his Derry Rd. E. apartment by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), where he resides with his mother and five younger siblings. He'll appear in a Brampton courtroom tomorrow, and faces extradition to the U.S. "This has been a total shock to my family, especially my mother.

She can't stop crying," said one of Mylvaganam's brothers, Raghu, yesterday. "He was here with us just studying and all of a sudden these big guys just burst through the door and grabbed him." RCMP Sergeant Michelle Paradis said Mylvaganam was picked up on a provisional warrant at the request of U.S. authorities.

Mylvaganam and four other Ontario men have been charged with one count each of conspiring to provide material support and resources to the Tamil Tigers, a political/military organization that has been waging war with the government of Sri Lanka since the 1970s in order to secure a separate state for the Tamil regions of the country.

So far, at least 11 people, including six Canadians, have been arrested in the joint FBI-RCMP investigation into the alleged criminal organization. Paradis said the investigation remains "active," and didn't rule out further arrests.

Raghu said his brother, who came here from Sri Lanka in 1992, is a computer engineering student at the University of Waterloo who served as a vice-president of the university's Tamil Students Association in 2004.

In three weeks, Mylvaganam was leaving for a four-month internship job for school at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA. He was told by the world-wide organization he would have a full-time job there after he graduated next spring, his brother said.

"My brother was so happy and ecstatic about getting that job. He got a work visa and everything" said Raghu. "He worked so hard and studied so hard and they (Microsoft) came to him with the offer.

They were going to set him up with a house, a car. Now his dreams have been shattered." Raghu maintained his brother is innocent.

"Our father passed away a long time ago, so Ramanan was the father of the house," said Raghu. "He studied so hard, sometimes all night at Tim Hortons, so he could get a well-paying job and support his family more financially.

There's no way he's guilty." Raghu wouldn't say whether he and his brother are Tamil Tiger supporters. U.S. prosecutors say the arrests are in relation to a North American network that saw men in Canada and the U.S. use their post-secondary studies as a cover for terrorist activities.

(The Mississauga News)