Nearly 100 Tigers on board MV Sun Sea

The Canadian authorities have identified nearly 100 LTTE members among the 492 illegal immigrants who arrived on board the MV Sun Sea, informed sources said.

The report which could not be verified by the officials here said the investigations on the illegal immigrants have indicated that nearly 100 people on board had links to the terror organisation.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Sun reported more than three dozen Tamil migrants, who arrived on board the ship, have been segregated from the others by the police for questioning. The Police suspect they may have links to the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), or other inadmissible groups, including war criminals.

Those held in "segregation" at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre, in B.C., include the skipper of the MV Sun Sea, Kamalraj Kandasamy, a.k.a "Captain Vinod," his 24-man crew and about a dozen migrants who arrived on August 13 off the coast of British Columbia, after a 90 day trip from Thailand. A total of 492 men, women and children were on board the ship.

Police said the suspects are being interviewed and undergoing extensive background checks by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, CSIS and Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) on suspicion of alien smuggling, being members of the Tamil Tigers terrorist group, a Sri Lankan paramilitary group or for taking part in crimes against humanity, the paper reported.

(MF)