‘LTTE duo’ arrested in Chennai

Two suspected members of the LTTE, who were apprehended by ‘Q’ Branch sleuths in the city on Friday, were reportedly in the process of devising IEDs to trigger blasts in Sri Lanka.

While Sivaneshwaran alias Nesan (34) was formerly an important functionary in the political recruitment wing of the LTTE, Gopi alias Manoharan (37) had completed his training and was a member of the outfit’s cadre, police said.

Police have reason to believe that the duo has links with ‘eelam’ sympathizers based in France and had been receiving funds from them.

“They said they were initially not inclined to plant bombs in Sri Lanka. But on seeing the Sinhalese occupying traditional Tamil areas in the island nation, they felt that blasts would discourage Sinhalese from settling in Tamil areas. Moreover, Nesan had lost his sister and Gopi his father in the final stages of the war, for which they said they wanted to take revenge,” said a source.

The two had also been actively lobbying among political leaders in the State for the cause of Lankan Tamils, Q-branch sources said.

After evading the police net last December, the duo was believed to be hiding in Tiruchy with the help of a local functionary of a political party. When the ‘Q’ Branch got a tip-off that the duo had shifted to Chennai recently, the sleuths traced them to the Sri Devi apartments on Church Road in Golden George Nagar at Mogappair.

Both Nesan and Gopi, hailing from Jaffna, had arrived with valid travel documents after the completion of the war. Nesan arrived in September 2009 and Gopi arrived in July 2011. Police said they did not seize any explosive material during Friday’s arrest.

They were produced in a court at Tambaram and remanded in judicial custody.

Police said one more person, believed to have been trained in bomb-making by this group is still at large and it is not clear whether he has left the country.(Indian Express)