Tigers abducted and killed Indian fishermen - T.Nadu Police Commissioner

by Walter Jayawardhana

The Commissioner of Police in Tamil Nadu said that the murder of five Indian fishermen which had been blamed on the Sri Lankan Navy by many political parties in Tamil Nadu had been actually committed by gunmen of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Police Commissioner D. G. P. Mukherjee said six LTTE cadres arrested on April 11th have admitted, the terrorist group had killed those fishermen and 12 more Indian fishermen had been abducted by them and are in their custody.

They have said that the LTTE marine wing, Sea Tiger members shot and killed them thinking the Indian fishermen were spying on their gun running activities.

But Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on March 30 of this year alleged openly in the Tamil Nadu assembly that it was the Sri Lanka Navy who had killed them.

The ruling DMK held a rally alleging Sri Lanka Navy and presented a petition to the Deputy Sri Lanka High Commissioner's office in Chennai. The delegation included Karunanidhi's son M. K. Stalin who is a powerful politician in the state. Pro-LTTE websites like Siber News spread the allegation all over the world. So far no Tamil Nadu politician has apologized to the Sri Lanka Navy for wrongly accusing them.

Tamil Nadu's Q branch police, the one specialising on terrorist activities interrogated six LTTE cadres who were arrested while smuggling out arms and explosives from India to LTTE enclaves in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil Nadu Police Commissioner said the boat 'Maria' in which the six terrorists were transporting arms and ammunition developed engine trouble and was drifting towards Tamil Nadu coast when they sought the help of Kanyakumari fishermen.

Before coming to shore they dumped their arms and ammunition cargo into the sea. Coast Guard on April 11 arrested the six persons Ravikumar, Bonibass, Robin, Arul Gnanadasan, Arul and Selvakumar and seized the boat 'Maria'. Along with this, two boats with six Indian fishermen were also seized.

All of them were handed over to a police station in Tuticorin on April 12. During the initial interrogation, those arrested told the police that their boat Maria was not the one involved in the killing and they were remanded to judicial custody and cases were registered for violation of Passports Act. Later they were transferred to the Q branch on suspicion that they were involved in terrorist activities.

The police commissioner Mukherjee said the boat Maria is the same boat that had been used in the shooting of the Tamil Nadu fishermen. However Mukherjee said the Sea Tigers involved in the fishermen's killing were a different group who were transporting arms and ammunition from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka for the LTTE. He said the LTTE opened fire on the fishermen thinking they were spying on their smuggling activities.

(EOM)