New Delhi: India has intimated authorities in Sri Lanka about intelligence inputs suggesting that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been trying to regroup by bringing all the sympathisers together. India’s premier anti-terror agency (NIA) has found that several LTTE sympathisers and linkmen have been working as drug peddlers to raise money to revive the banned Tamil militant organisation that was based in northeastern Sri Lanka.
“The LTTE sympathisers both in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu in India have been trying to revive the terrorist organisation by raising funds. The Indian government has alerted the authorities in Sri Lanka,” an official working with India’s security establishment told ETV Bharat on Thursday. The NIA, in August, arrested Lingam alias Adi Lingam, a key conspirator in a case related to the smuggling of drugs and arms to raise funds for reviving the LTTE in Sri Lanka and India.
The agency claimed that Adi was closely associated with Gunasekharan alias Guna, the prime suspect in the case, who, along with Pushparaj alias Pookutti Kanna and Haji Salim (a supplier based in Pakistan), was operating the illegal drugs and arms trade from the special camp in Tiruchi for the revival of the LTTE. Intelligence agencies in India claimed that LTTE sympathisers have been involved in narcotics smuggling and gold smuggling to revive the terrorist organisation.
Also read: LTTE revival attempt through narco terror: 14 lands in NIA dragnet in Tamil Nadu so far
“Cross border terrorism, illegal migration, smuggling of fake currency and trafficking of drugs and weapons are going on through the sea route along India Sri Lanka border,” the official said. A Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs in its latest report has also raised concern on these issues. The committee chaired by Lok Sabha MP PP Choudhary wanted to know from the government about the initiatives taken to handle the issues.
“The ongoing security cooperation between various agencies in India and Sri Lanka has been mutually beneficial to both countries. The security cooperation between India and Sri Lanka involves sharing of information on issues of counter-terrorism, narcotics smuggling, gold smuggling, human trafficking and illegal migration,” representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed the committee.
Furthermore, regular meetings with police and security agencies of Sri Lanka are being held to facilitate inter-agency cooperation and coordination, the MEA said. “Besides, on the request of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Indian Mission in Colombo has been regularly approaching the Sri Lankan government under the provisions of mutual legal assistance treaty for their assistance in the investigation of various cases,” the ministry said.
