Thread: 13 Tied to Sri Lankan Separatists Are Charged With Aiding Te

http://www.nytimes.com

August 22, 2006
13 Tied to Sri Lankan Separatists Are Charged by U.S. With Aiding Terrorists
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Federal agents in four states, including New York and Connecticut, have arrested 13 men on charges that they plotted to buy weapons for a Sri Lankan separatist group and bribe agents posing as State Department officials to remove the group from a list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The men were charged yesterday, and others were being sought, in a case arising from two sting operations, the authorities said. The men were said to have close ties to the group, the Tamil Tigers. Three arrests were made in Buffalo and one each in Simsbury, Conn., San Jose, Calif., and Seattle.

The men were accused of a range of crimes, from trying to buy Russian-made shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles and assault rifles from an undercover agent on Long Island to conspiring to pay a $1 million bribe to get off the government list.

The defendants included a Sri Lankan doctor who lives in London and met last year in a Staten Island apartment with an undercover F.B.I. agent posing as a State Department official to discuss the bribe, officials said. The doctor and five other men were arraigned and ordered held without bail yesterday in United States District Court in Brooklyn.

Also arrested were a Connecticut man with a master’s degree from Columbia University, and a financial adviser, the authorities said. Three of the men were American citizens; others were from Sri Lanka, India and Canada.

Among the suspects still being sought in the case was one identified in court papers as “a principal liaison” between the leader of the group, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and its supporters in North America, Europe and Asia.

That man, whose name was redacted from the court papers because he was still being sought, was actively involved in procuring military equipment for the group from around the world, the papers said.

The arrests came three weeks after a frail four-year-old cease-fire between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government fell apart and the government stepped up airstrikes against the group.

Criminal complaints unsealed in the case said the group relied heavily on supporters in the United States, Europe, Canada and elsewhere “to raise and launder money, acquire intelligence, purchase technology and military arms and equipment and improperly influence elected politicians.”

In Cumberland, Md., F.B.I. agents searched the offices of a charity that, according to its Web site, has raised money to aid tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. The court papers identified it as a suspected front for a Tamil Tigers fund-raising organization.

The State Department designated the Tamil Tigers as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, and the investigation into its activities in the United States began two years later, according to the complaints.

The complaints detail an escalating series of deadly attacks by the Tamil Tigers, including one in June in which, they said, the group detonated a remote-controlled mine on an overcrowded bus, killing 64 people, including 15 children.

The investigation, which was conducted by the Joint Terrorist Task Force in the F.B.I.’s Newark office and overseen by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, with assistance from 20 other F.B.I. offices and authorities in 10 other nations, essentially ran on two tracks, officials said.

One track focused on the group’s fund-raising efforts. A confidential informer who had infiltrated the group introduced one of the defendants to an undercover federal agent posing as a State Department official. They began discussions about the possibility of a million-dollar bribe to remove the group from the State Department list, according to the bribery complaint.

The second track developed late last month, when one of the men contacted the same informer, believing he had a relationship with a black market arms dealer who could acquire weapons, including missiles. That began a series of telephone conversations and e-mail messages that ended with a Saturday meeting at a Long Island office, secretly recorded and videotaped by the F.B.I., one complaint said. Several of the men were arrested at the meeting.

The five men sought to buy 10 SA-18 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, 500 AK-47’s and other military equipment, according to the complaint. One law enforcement official said they arrived at the meeting with a “shopping list.”

“These folks took this to another level of aggression in their desire to acquire sophisticated weapons,” said Leslie G. Wiser Jr., the special agent in charge of the Newark F.B.I. office.

Nachimuthu Socrates, 54, one of the defendants charged yesterday in the bribery complaint, which described him as a Tamil Tigers supporter based in North America, was arrested at his home in Simsbury, Conn., officials said.

The complaint says Mr. Socrates met with the federal agent posing as a State Department official and the informant five times in 2004 and 2005. They had detailed discussions about financial terms to remove the group from the State Department list, according to the complaint.

Mr. Socrates’s daughter, Thernal Socrates, said the family was surprised by the charges. “We think he’s innocent and that all the charges will be dropped,” she said. “I think this seems to be the new trend these days,” she said of the government charges, adding, “I don’t know where this is coming from.

She said her father, who came to the United States from India in 1976, is an engineer with a master’s degree from Columbia University and runs his own granite business.

http://www.canada.com

Canadians among those charged in terror plot

Adrian Humphreys and Allison Hanes
CanWest News Service


Tuesday, August 22, 2006


TORONTO -- Three Canadian citizens travelled to New York to buy anti-aircraft missiles, machine guns and other military weapons for the Tamil Tigers terrorist organization, the U.S. government alleges after unveiling on Monday a wide anti-terrorism sting operation.

At least eight people were arrested in the United States on the weekend by the FBI’s joint terrorism task force and another man was arrested in Ontario on Monday by the RCMP.

Two search warrants were also executed in southern Ontario as part of the joint U.S.-Canada counter-terrorism investigation.

Authorities say the probe tracked a series of meetings, e-mail exchanges and telephone conversations as representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, based in Canada, arranged to buy portable surface-to-air missiles, assault rifles, truck-mounted missile systems, aerial vehicles for jamming radio transmissions and radar, submarine design software, flight lessons and an array of other military and communications items.

The Canadians wanted to buy 50 to 100 surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles, the FBI says.
“Sometimes getting five or 10 ‘needles’ is not worth it,” one of the accused men said in a conversation recorded by the FBI that used needle as a code for missile, the U.S. government claims. “It has to be obtained in bulk. At our rate, if we fire 10 at least two will hit,” he continued.

The black-market weapons were to be transferred ship-to-ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean and taken to Sri Lanka, according to U.S. prosecutors.

Other alleged Tamil Tiger leaders based in the U.S. also discussed a $1-million bribe to have the Tigers taken off the U.S. government’s list of terrorist organizations - a status only recently applied in Canada.

“These defendants allegedly sought to obtain, through a variety of means, weapons and materials to carry out a deadly campaign of violence. We will use every tool in our power to disrupt the activities of those who seek to harm others, both here and abroad,” said Alberto R. Gonzales, U.S. Attorney General, in a prepared statement.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, commonly called the Tamil Tigers, are notorious for its use of suicide bombings and its assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the former Indian prime minister.

The operation allegedly started on July 30, when Nadarasa “Yoga” Yogarasa phoned a Tamil man he believed to have ties to a black market arms dealer, the U.S. government claims. The man had previously agreed to co-operate with the government after a drug trafficking conviction a decade ago and, in return for immigration status in America, was feeding the government information.

Yogarasa arranged a meeting between the informant and another man, identified as Sathajhan Sarachandran, known as “Satha,” a Canadian citizen of Tamil decent, prosecutors say.

On July 31, Sarachandran met with the others in Queens, a New York City borough, according to a sworn complaint by an FBI agent filed in a U.S. court.

Sarachandran told the informant he was taking direction from Pottu Amman, who allegedly heads the intelligence and operations wing of the Tamil Tigers and is widely named as the brains behind the Gandhi assassination. Amman handled the “outside purchasing” of arms, Sarachandran allegedly said.

Sarachandran said that a “big guy” in Canada was Pottu Amman’s direct contact and was going “there” (to the Tamil home base in Sri Lanka) to get a list of the weapons and supplies they wanted to buy, the FBI says.

They swapped e-mail addresses and later that day, at the FBI’s direction, the informant sent the Canadian man an e-mail titled “Met you today,” documents says.

“Thanks for meeting. I will contact my guy to see what he has. If it is OK do you want me to send you pictures of the merchandise,” he wrote.

On Aug. 1, a reply came: “I am waiting for your merchandise pictures.”

A day later, the FBI sent another e-mail from the informant.

“Here are photos of what my guy has available. SA-18 Russian made shoulder fired. Let me know if your guys are interested. Give me a list of what they want and I’ll ask him what he can get,” the e-mail said. Attached were were two photographs of an SA-18 surface-to-air missile, the FBI agent says. The same photos were forwarded by Sarachandran to Sri Lanka quoting prices: “SA18 $75,000 US 1 reusable and 1 needle” and “1 needle $50,000 US.”

Authorities contend that a needle is code for a missile.

On Aug. 14, an undercover law enforcement officer who posed as the informant’s arms dealer, called Sarachandran.

The Canadian said the deal was urgent, the government alleges.

“Unfortunately, we need to meet fast, uh, ASAP,” according to a recording of the conversation, the government says.

Four men drove across the border in Niagara on Aug. 18, telling U.S. Customs agents they were heading to a bachelor party in Buffalo, the FBI says. One was found to have a criminal record and was refused admission. He took a taxi back into Canada.

The Canadians - Sarachandran, Sahilal “Sahil” Sabaratnam and Thiruthanikan “Thani” Thanigasalam - continued on their trip, the government says.

The three men allegedly met with the informant and another undercover agent, who posed as an expert in military hardware, in Long Island.

“We need something for Kfir,” Thanigasalam, one of the Canadians, allegedly said, an apparent reference to the Israeli-made Kfir fighter jet used by the Sri Lankan military.

“You want to shoot this airplane down,” the undercover agent asked. Thanigasalam said yes, the FBI alleges in court documents. He also asked for weaponry to destroy boats, the FBI says.

The men also refered to a “financial guy” in Canada who would help with payment.

National Post

EDS: Story will update with full writethru

http://www.upi.com

Analysis: Tamil terror bust 'shows threat'
By SHAUN WATERMAN
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The alleged efforts by U.S. and Canada-based supporters of the Tamil Tigers to buy weapons in New York represents an alarming departure from their traditional activities, which have been restricted to raising funds and political support.

Counter-terrorism specialists said that the Tigers, armed separatists fighting the government of Sri Lanka for an ethnic homeland, had a highly sophisticated fund-raising machine in Canada, but had never attempted to procure weapons in North America before.

Two U.S. federal criminal complaints unsealed Monday charge eight named men and seven others with a series of offences including attempting to buy shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles and AK47 assault rifles for the group, and plotting to bribe State Department officials to remove it from a list of terrorist organizations.

According to the complaints, those accused in the sting operations include "senior ... supporters" of the group, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, or LTTE, who "have direct and frequent contact with LTEE leadership in Sri Lanka and are often dispatched by the LTTE to countries around the world, including the United States, to facilitate LTTE projects."

The complaints say that the group's supporters in the United States have been under investigation since 1999.

"This was a long-term intelligence gathering operation," Steven Siegel, spokesman for the FBI's Newark field office told United Press International.

"Recently, the individuals concerned became more and more determined in their efforts" to acquire advanced weapons and sophisticated dual-use technology like night-vision goggles, GPS equipment and software programs to assist in the design of submarines, said Siegel.

He said 14 people were in custody in various locations in the United States and Canada. The first arrests took place Friday following a meeting in Long Island, N.Y., with undercover FBI agents during which four LTTE supporters agreed to buy 500 assault rifles, 10 Russian-made SA-18 shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles and training for the missiles for $900,000.

According to the complaints, the chain of events that ended with the meeting about the missiles was initiated with a phone call on July 30. But some of the other activities charged date back much further. They include the bribery of a purported U.S. immigration official to issue fraudulent travel documents to several aliens to allow them to enter the United States, which dates back to October 2001.

Siegel said that hundreds of federal agents from 20 FBI field offices in the United States and law enforcement agencies in 10 countries abroad had taken part in the investigation.

Other arrests followed this week in San Jose, Calif., Seattle, Wash., Buffalo, N.Y., Connecticut and Canada. More were expected, he said.

Peter Chalk, a senior analyst with the defense think tank the RAND Corp., told United Press International the development was "worrying."

He said Canada and to a lesser extent the United States were "very important hubs for fundraising and propaganda work," for the group, which was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government in 1997.

He said that while the Tigers were famous for their sophisticated arms procurement capability, they had previously restricted themselves to Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and to a lesser extent Eastern Europe.

"They have always gone out of their way to present as clean an image as possible" in North America, he said.

"It's a real change in tactics," agreed Mia Bloom, a former counter-terrorism consultant to the New Jersey state Department of Law and Public Safety, who now lectures at the University of Georgia.

She said that through the tithing or taxation system known as nandavanan, the group was able to raise about a million dollars a day from diaspora Tamils. She said the figure was an estimate she had heard from both non-profits working in Sri Lanka and Western intelligence services.

The complaints include charges of laundering and illegally raising funds for the group, and quote one of the defendants as saying "we have sent millions" to the Tigers through fake charities.

The defendant, Vijayshantar Patpanathan, went on to explain that, in the words of one complaint, "in total more money is raised in Canada, but that the LTTE relies more heavily on donors in the United States for more time sensitive financing needs."

Both Bloom and Chalk said they were concerned that the apparent change might presage a more operational stance by the group's supporters.

Chalk said the group had restricted its activities in North America to avoid attracting law enforcement attention and to shore up political support in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.

"If they're starting to abandon that restraint," said Chalk, "the issue is where the line is now."

Bloom said the change in stance meant "The question is, will they start attacking Sri Lankan targets" in North America.

Aaron Mannes, a researcher at the University of Maryland, agreed that "there is little question that they have the ability" to launch terrorist attacks in the United States and Canada. "The issue," he said, "is what would push them into that kind of action."

Mannes said he personally considered any terrorist attacks by the Tigers in North America "highly unlikely. But you can't rule it out."

Siegel would not comment on any possible threats posed by the group in North America, beyond saying "That's why (the FBI and other federal agencies) are out there -- to stop terrorist attacks."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

Tamil Tigers and the Canadian connection
COLIN FREEZE

Globe and Mail Update

It's an American-led investigation, but nine of the arrested suspects are now known to have links to Canada. In fact, New York prosecutors allege Tamil Tiger operatives from north of the border were the driving force behind a host of conspiracies, all aimed at subverting U.S. laws meant to ban support for terrorist organizations.

U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, working with Canadian police, quickly rounded up a dozen suspects this past week. But the rapid-fire arrests came only after years after spying, infiltrating and patiently gathering intelligence about the Tamil Tigers. While it has long been feared that the separatist guerrillas had a very active presence in North America, authorities have never exposed the network until now.

Terrorist blacklists are to meant starve groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of money, weapons and legitimacy. Prosecutors say LTTE conspirators tried to get around the law by bribing U.S. officials to lift the ban on support, and further allege the suspects tried to trick all kinds of organizations — including high-tech companies in Toronto, the University of Waterloo, Vancouver-based military outfitters and British military contractors — into helping them get weapons and equipment for the Tamil Tigers.

In the jungles of Sri Lanka, the guerrillas have long told outsiders they do not prevail on a diaspora of Tamil refugees for arms or funds. They say they simply steal what's needed from the enemy army.

Yet the FBI has chronicled a very different story: As a civil-war ceasefire continues to fall apart in Sri Lanka, the agency says it has discovered that the Tamil Tigers want radio towers, missile-launchers, AK-47s, night-vision goggles — even software to design warships. And they are asking their sympathizers abroad to get it.

“Waterloo Suresh” was a big man on campus, at least among Tamils. On several occasions, the electrical engineering student urged his fellow students to open their hearts and their wallets to Tamil orphans affected by war or the 2004 tsunami.

Yet the U.S. criminal complaint against him alleges he procured military equipment as early as 2004. The FBI says he started out by helping obtain communications-tower equipment before moving on to bigger things.

The suspect, whose real name is Suresh Sriskandarajah, contacted a British warship-design firm and asked to buy $22,000 worth of software for the Tigers, according to the U.S. criminal complaint against him. The document further alleges the suspect said he needed the software for a University of Waterloo design project, and tried to legitimize that story by sending a note on the letterhead of ATI Technologies, a Markham, Ont.-based computer-chip maker.

The FBI further accuses Mr. Sriskandarajah of buying night-vision goggles for the Tigers.

Waterloo Suresh turned 26 last month. Another recent University of Waterloo graduate, Ramanan Mylvaganam, 30, is charged with being his co-conspirator.

Waterloo Suresh was known for pleading for Tamil causes after he accompanied 25 other Canadian Tamil students on a trip to Sri Lanka, which coincided with 2004's deadly tsunami.

Another current suspect, Sathajhan (Satha) Sarachandran, was also on that journey to the war-ravaged nation, witnessing the devastation of the flood waters that killed thousands. Last weekend, he seemed destined for happier times abroad. Border agents say that when they stopped his car, he said he and some friends were heading south to Buffalo for a bachelor party.

But the FBI knew that story was not true because they had been taping the suspect's conversations for three weeks. The agents had been working to snare him in a sting.

Federal agents used a New York drug dealer turned informant. He needed to stay out of jail, a new job and a means of staying in the country. The FBI needed a native Tamil speaker to infiltrate the Tigers.

The FBI says that Satha, the informant, and a man pretending to be an arms dealer were looking at crates of assault rifles and shoulder-launched missiles when agents arrested them in a Long Island warehouse last week.

Two others Canadians who made the car journey to New York, Sahilal (Sahil) Sabaratnam and Thiruthanikan (Thani) Thanigasalam, were also arrested on the spot. Police say a fourth man, Piratheepan (Peter) Nadarajah, apparently had been turned away at the border before being arrested in Toronto this week.

For the FBI, the arms-sale sting represented a tidy three-week turnaround from start to finish. But they and their star Tamil informant had been working another angle as early as 2002.

The head of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka had sent emissaries to the United States with the specific goal of getting the terrorist ban on the group lifted. The informant's instructions were to meet those emissaries and their U.S. friends and invite them to his Staten Island apartment.

The informant did so, telling his new friends he had high-level government contacts. He said he could get the ban lifted, but “the LTTE would have to pay him millions,” according the criminal complaint filed in New York.

The negotiations went on for years. There was talk of also getting the U.S. to stop selling arms to Colombo and of ways to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. Before long, federal agents pretending to be corrupt State Department officials were also attending meetings in the apartment.

The FBI says it taped the meetings. On one of those tapes, a suspect is alleged to have said “we sent millions” to the Tamil Tigers through a prominent charity, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization.

The FBI sat on the intelligence for a long time. It watched what the suspects were doing, and who they were talking to in Canada before connecting the dots and moving to make the arrests.

Several Canadians are accused of assisting in the bribery conspiracy, including two brothers from Buffalo — Thileepan Patpanatha and Sujeepan Patpanathan — who had recently moved there from Montreal.

Another former University of Waterloo Student, Thirukumaran Sinnathamby, is also accused of being part of the conspiracy