One of the Tamil migrants from the MV Sun Sea in Canada is being detained on suspicion that he is a member of the LTTE, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board ruled.

Legal counsel from Canada Border Service Agency presented a newspaper report naming the detained migrant in an LTTE funding effort. The article suggested that the man was part of a delegation sent to 12 European countries to raise funds for tsunami relief from the Tamil diaspora.

“In his initial identity interview, [the man] denied being a member of the LTTE or travelling as a part of any delegation and initially denied traveling to any country outside of Sri Lanka,” said the legal counsel representing CBSA, Jennifer Friburg.

The CBSA alleged that when the man was shown the article he admitted traveling to a European country but only as a member of the media.

The man is the first of the 492 Tamil migrants to be detained on security grounds. All of the other adult migrants continue to be detained on grounds of identity.

He was among the first of the group to receive his third round of detention review hearings since the vessel arrived on Aug 13. The hearings were being conducted at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge.

The person was not asked to speak during the hearings but was represented by legal counsel Antya Schrack. “The article mentions that he travelled with the Sri Lankans, but no where does it say that he was a part of the Tamil Tiger organization,” Ms. Schrack said.

He was ordered to remain in detention subject to another hearing in 30 days. (Globe and Mail)