Former LTTE cadre arrested in Sri Lanka

Army officers arrested the suspect, Joseph Peter Robinson with a T-56 rifle and handed him over to the Serunuwara police station.

Colombo: A former cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militant group has been arrested in Sri Lanka for possessing weapons and explosives, according to a media report.

Army officers on Friday arrested the suspect with a T-56 rifle and handed him over to the Serunuwara police station, media reported.

The suspect was identified as Joseph Peter Robinson, a 36-year-old resident of 442, Ambalkulam, Kilinochchi.

The officers of Kilinochchi Police have been notified of the arrest and during further investigations, the officers have found a stock of weapons and explosives hidden in his house at the given address in Kilinochchi, the report said

Among the seized weapons were three SFG 87 hand grenades, two Arges hand grenades, a small amount of C4, 62 9 -mm ammo, 9 7-mm ammo, one T-56 weapon, 154 T-56 live ammunition, one Long Range Semi-automatic Rifle, one magazine, two detonator cords, 62 different types of detonators, five MGM live ammo and one knife.

A GPS, a Sony camera, binoculars, a laptop, a dongle, an antenna, a mobile phone, 4 tee-shirts with Prabhakaran's picture and a black mask were also found at his homes, the report said.

The suspect has been identified as a former LTTE member.

The LTTE had run a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Kilinochchi police have also arrested two women from the house, the report said.