Group attempting to revive LTTE nabbed

The Tamil Nadu Police ‘Q’ Branch sleuths have arrested a key LTTE operative and electronics expert and three men he had recruited in a plan to revive the Tiger terrorist organisation.

The arrests have been made on a tip-off given by the Sri Lankan army which recently apprehended two Sri Lankan Tamils on the suspicion of attempting to rebuild the tiger terrorist organisation.

During questioning the men told Lankan officers about an attempt to regroup the LTTE by the remaining members who are enlisting Sri Lankan Tamils in Tamil Nadu sympathetic to the Eelam cause. Part of the plan involved targeting important installations in Sri Lanka with bomb attacks.

As per the pro-Tiger Terrorist news website Tamil News Network, a ‘Q’ Branch police officer said the arrested Sri Lankan Tamils told Lankan forces that they were part of a mission to create a new “youth group” against the Sri Lankan government. They have informed Lankan officers about a key operative in Chennai imparting training for them.

The website said Police teams led by a deputy superintendent of police surrounded a house on Nallathambi Street in Pammal near Pallavaram, where they were informed that suspects had been staying. They stormed the house and apprehended S. Suresh Kumar, 34, D. Udaya Doss, 39, T. Maheswaran, 33 and K. Krishnamurthy, 29.

An investigating officer said Suresh Kumar lost his legs in an explosion during the Eelam war and now moves around on a wheelchair. “Two of the men came to Tamil Nadu as refugees in 2001 and 2003, and the others during the final stages of the conflict in 2009.

Tamil Nadu police officers said as an electronics expert, Suresh Kumar headed an LTTE wing that made explosives, and he specialised in making electronic circuits. The Tamil Nadu Police ‘Q’ Branch have recovered two laptops, incriminating documents, wires, cables and electronic circuit boards and panels from the house.

Investigators said Krishnamurthy, who supplied water cans in the locality, befriended Sri Lankan Tamils and took them to Suresh Kumar. The former LTTE operative trained them to make improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and electronic circuits for a variety of bombs.

During questioning, the arrested men said they had taken the house in Pammal on rent more than two months ago. Doss was a carpenter and Maheswaran a photo editor. Suresh Kumar has trained Sri Lankan Tamils and sent them to Sri Lanka with bomb-making material.

news.lk