LTTE influx as war rages in Lanka
LTTE operatives are crossing over to Tamil Nadu in larger numbers following stepped up action in Sri Lanka.
Stepped up action by Lankan military has a dangerous fallout in TN
CHENNAI: LTTE operatives are crossing over to Tamil Nadu in larger numbers following stepped up action in Sri Lanka, with the military closing in on Tiger-held territories, intelligence agencies have reasons to believe. While the βQβ branch of the TN police that deals with militants has been on high alert since the outbreak of the latest war, the arrests of 15 LTTE links, including two active recruits, have confirmed these fears.
The βQβ branch last Wednesday arrested Thambidurai Parameswaran, an LTTE intelligence man, from Chennai. Interrogations have revealed that he was in Chennai to kidnap or kill Varadaraja Perumal, leader of the Eelam Peopleβs Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), a group opposed to the LTTE in Lanka. Perumal has been incognito in India after getting into the LTTEβs hit list. A week earlier, the police arrested an LTTE link and six of his associates from Madurai for trying to smuggle out detonators.
βThere could many more LTTE operatives all over the state. We are continuously interrogating Sri Lankan refugees and suspects,β said βQβ branch SP Ashok Kumar. βWe interrogate every refugee who lands here and suspects are moved to a quarantine camp near Rameswaram. Confirmed militants are taken to a special camp in Chengalpet near Chennai.
Of the 78 identified militants, 45 are at the camp. The others are being deported,β the βQβ branch officer said. What he left unsaid is that some have escaped from the camp and could be at large doing intelligence gathering for LTTE. βThe ordinary refugees can leave the camp during the day ans itβs not possible to track the movements of 64,000 such people,β an officer said.