Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - Global Network

Global Network

LTTE had developed a massive international network since the days of N.S. Krishnan, who served as its first international representative. In late 1970s, TULF parliamentarian and opposition leader A. Amirthalingam provided letters of reference for fundraising, and V. N. Navaratnam, who was an executive committee member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), introduced many influential and wealthy Tamils living overseas to Tamil insurgent leaders. Navaratnam also introduced LTTE members to the members of Polisario Front, a national liberation movement in Morocco, at a meeting held in Oslo, Norway. In 1978, during the world tour of Amirthalingam (with London based Eelam activist S. K. Vaikundavasan), he formed the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC), which later turned out to be an LTTE front organization. The global contacts of LTTE grew steadily since then. At the height of its power, LTTE had 42 offices all over the world. The global network of LTTE is functional in 4 major areas. They are,

• Propaganda
• Fund raising
• Arms procurement
• Shipping

There were 3 types of organizations to do propaganda and fund raising, i.e. Front, Cover and Sympathetic. Prior to the ethnic riots of 1983, attempts to raise funds for a sustaining military campaign were not realised. It was the mass exodus of Tamil civilians to India and western countries following Black July ethnic riots, which made it possible. As the armed conflict evolved and voluntary donations dwindled, LTTE used force and threats to collect money. LTTE was worth US$ 200-300 million at its peak. The group's global network owned numerous business ventures in various countries. These include investment in real estate, shipping, grocery stores, gold and jewellery stores, gas stations, restaurants, production of films, mass media organizations (TV, radio, print), industries, etc. It was also in control of numerous charitable organizations including Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation, which was banned and funds were frozen by United States Treasury in 2007 for covertly financing terrorism.

Arms Procurement and shipping activities of LTTE were largely clandestine. Prior to 1983, it procured weapons mainly from Afghanistan via the Indo-Pakistani border. Explosives were purchased from commercial markets in India. From 1983 to 1987, LTTE acquired subsantial amount of weapons from RAW and from Lebanon, Cyprus, Singapore and Malaysia based arms dealers. LTTE received its first consignment of arms from Singapore in 1984 on board MV Cholan, the first ship owned by the organization. Funds were received and cargo was cleared at Chennai Port with the assistance of M. G. Ramachandran, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In November 1994, LTTE was able to purchase whopping 60 tonnes of explosives (50 tonnes of TNT and 10 tonnes of RDX) from Rubezone Chemical plant in Ukraine, providing a forged Bangladeshi Ministry of Defense end-user certificate. Payments for the explosives were made from a Citibank account in Singapore held by Selvarasa Pathmanathan. Consignment was transported on board MV Sewne. Same explosives were used for the Central Bank bombing in 1996. Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia remained the most trusted outposts of LTTE, after India alienated it after the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.

Since late 1997, North Korea became the principal country to provide arms, ammunition and explosives to the LTTE. The deal with North Korean government was carried out by Ponniah Anandaraja alias Aiyannah, a member of World Tamil Coordinating Committee of USA and later, the accountant of LTTE. He worked at the North Korean embassy in Bangkok since late 1997. LTTE had nearly 20 second-hand ships, which were purchased in Japan, and registered in Panama and other Latin American countries. Most of the times, these ships transported general cargo, including paddy, sugar, timber, glass and fertilizer. But when an arms deal was finalised, they travelled to North Korea, load the cargo and brought it to the equator. Then the ships are based there. Then on board merchant tankers, weapons were transferred to the sea of Alampil, just outside the territorial waters in Sri Lanka's Exclusive Economic Zone. After that, small teams of Sea Tigers brought the cargo ashore. Sri Lanka Navy, during 2005-08 destroyed at least 11 of these cargo ships belonged to LTTE in the international waters.

LTTE's last shipment of weapons came in March 2009, towards the end of the war. Merchant vessel "Princess Iswari" went from Indonesia to North Korea under captain Kamalraj Kandasamy alias Vinod, loaded the weapons and it came back to international waters beyond Sri Lanka. But due to the heavy naval bockades set up by Sri Lanka Navy, it could not deliver the arms consignment. Thus it dumped the weapons in the sea. The same ship, after changing its name to MV Ocean Lady, appeared in Vancouver with 76 migrants, in October 2009. In December 2009, Sri Lanka Navy apprehended a merchant vessel belonged to LTTE, "Princess Chrisanta" in Indonesia and brought it back to Sri Lanka.

The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (USSFRC) and Ethiopian based Jimma Times claimed that the Eritrean government had provided direct military assistance, including light aircrafts to LTTE, during the 2002 - 2003 period when the LTTE was having negotiations with Sri Lankan government via the Norwegian mediators. It was also alleged that Erik Solheim, the chief Norwegian facilitator, helped LTTE to establish this relationship. None of these claims have since been verified. These allegations and a suspicion from within the Sri Lankan armed forces, that LTTE had considerable connections and assets in Eritrea and that its leader Prabhakaran may try to flee to Eritrea in the final stages of war, prompted the Sri Lankan government to establish diplomatic relations with Eritrea in 2009. None of the allegations nor suspicions have since materialized into verifiable fact.