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Video: Arrested LTTE suspects brought to SL

27 May 2014 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Three LTTE suspects, who were arrested by the Malaysian Law Enforcement Authority on May 15, were handed over the Sri Lankan Police, police said.

Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that the three suspects were brought to Sri Lankan last night and they were being questioned by the Terrorist Investigatio0ns Division.

Malaysia's Counter Terrorism Division of the Police Special Branch on May 15 arrested three men suspected to be members of the LTTE in multiple raids in Petaling Jaya and Klang, Selangor.

Since 2009 Malaysian police had detained eight LTTE members, including a man believed to be the second in command of the group and all have been deported to Sri Lanka to face prosecution for terrorist acts.

The men were identified as Sangalingarajah alias Mullichelvam who is said to have joined the LTTE political wing in 1994; Mahadevan Thirubakaran who was said to have joined the LTTE in 1996 had been involved in the LTTE musical group. He had been in Norway 2002 and then had gone to Malaysia in 2004.

The third suspect was identified as Selvathurai Pirubanandan who joined the LTTE intelligence wing in 1999 and fled to Malaysia. He was also one of the main organisers of the ‘Maha Viru’ celebrations held in Malaysia last year.

Police Spokesman Ajith Rohana said red notices had been issued against them.

At the time of their arrest they were registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and used UNHCR cards to stay in the country and to avoid legal action by the local authorities.

Initial investigations had revealed that the suspects had used Malaysia as a base to collect data and spread propaganda, while trying to revive the defunct LTTE terrorist group at an international level.

They possessed LTTE propaganda materials, electronic equipment and foreign currencies at the time of their arrest.

Since 2009, Malaysian authorities who have been working closely with the Sri Lankan counterparts had detained eight LTTE members, including the second in command of the Nediyawan faction identified as Nanthagopan. All of them have been deported to Sri Lanka to face prosecution for terrorist acts.

Malaysian police are currently working closely with the UNHCR to ensure that terrorists would not be allowed to exploit and abuse UNHCR cards to turn Malaysia into their operation base or to carry out terrorist activities, which could pose threats to Malaysia or other countries.

Following their arrest, Malaysian authorities have launched an operation to hunt down more members of the LTTE who are believed to be hiding in the country.

In April, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa visited Malaysia and met the top brass there to pave way for more collaborated efforts in the near future in Malaysia where joint efforts had successfully led to curbing down most of the activities carried out by the now defunct LTTE. (Supun Dias and Sanath Desmond)

Video by Sanath Desmond

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Video: Arrested LTTE suspects brought to SL

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