A Singaporean arms dealer, charged for conspiracy to provide material support to the LTTE terrorists, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison by a US Federal judge yesterday. US District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced 57-year-old Haniffa Bin Osman of Singapore to 37 months in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and money laundering, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announced.
A media release by the US Department of Justice added that from April to September 29, 2006 the accused conspired to supply the Tamil Tigers with state-of-the-art firearms, machine guns and ammunition, surface-to-air missiles, night vision goggles and other military weapons to be used to fight against Sri Lankan government forces.
In 2006, Osman has told the undercover agents in Baltimore that the weapons were for the Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka and the Tigers had wired a deposit of $250,000 as a down payment for the purchase of the weapons. The other conspirators, Indonesian nationals Haji Subandi and Erick Wotulo and Sri Lankan Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa have pleaded guilty and been sentenced earlier.