LTTE operative, 3 others arrested

Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ branch sleuths on Wednesday arrested a key LTTE operative and electronics expert and three men he had recruited in a plan to revive the banned organisation that had been decimated by Sri Lankan forces in 2009.

Investigators made the arrests in information from the Sri Lankan army who recently apprehended two Sri Lankan Tamils on suspicion of attempting to rebuild the outfit. During questioning the men told Lankan officers about an attempt to regroup the LTTE by remaining members who are enlisting Sri Lankan Tamils in the state sympathetic to the Eelam cause. Part of the plan involved targeting important installations in Sri Lanka with bomb attacks.

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 informed Lankan officers about a key operative in Chennai imparting training for them.

Police teams led by a deputy superintendent of police surrounded the 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. Pammal.

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 as the war was in its final stages in 2009," the officer said.

As an electronics expert, Suresh Kumar headed a LTTE wing that made explosives. "He specialised in making electronic circuits," the officer said. "We 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 trained Sri Lankan Tamils and sent them to that country with bomb-making material.

[Full Coverage]

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