22. March 2010
NEWS
Suspected LTTE Fundraisers Arrested in Germany
German
authorities recently arrested six people suspected of raising funds for
the separatist
group, LTTE.
The German and Sri Lankan
nationals
aged between 22 and 58 were arrested on 2 March 2010
in raids on eight premises including the Tamil Coordination Committee
(TCC) in Oberhausen near Essen, Germany. Among
those arrested was Sri Lankan national Vijikanendra V. S., the suspected head of the TCC in Germany. The German
prosecution service
accused the men of using blackmail and extortion to raise funds from
Tamils
living in Germany.
There
are reports that the LTTE earlier collected money threatening to harm
their
relatives in Sri Lanka but now
threatens the
immigrants after the defeat of the LTTE in May, last year. It is also
believed
that although the LTTE was defeated in Sri Lanka, the group
is still very
active in Europe in many
other forms. The
LTTE was banned within the European Union in 2006 as a terrorist
organization.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2010/03/100305_ltte_germany.shtml