India catches LTTE by the 'arm'

Chennai: An AK-56 rifle, a belt worn by suicide bombers, an LTTE trade mark detonators and chemicals - that's what the coast guard found on a boat at the Palk Bay near the India Sri Lanka border on Wednesday.

Five men were on the boat, three of them Sri Lankan Tamils and suspected LTTE cadres.

“Out of those five, two are Indians and three are Sri Lankans,” said Commander, Indian Coast Guard, Eastern Region, Rajendra Singh.

On Tuesday, the Navy seized nearly four tonnes of material used to make explosive devices off the Rameswaram coast. The material was on its way to Sri Lanka.

The trail doesn’t end here. It goes back to weeks and months of seizures and arrests.

A few weeks ago the Tamil Nadu police arrested seven men including suspected LTTE cadres and seized ball bearings that could be used as sharpnels.

Before that, a rocket was found on the seabed off the Rameswaram coast, and days later, a Tata Sumo with explosives was found near Madurai.

While all of it was material on way to Sri Lanka, Wednesday’s catch could have been heading to India.

The Coast Guard initially said the boat was on way to Cuddalore but that can be confirmed only after further investigations.

"It was coming from international waters to Indian waters," Singh said.

Among the arms recovered is a belt that could be used by suicide bombers.

It's still not clear where this small and focussed consignment of arms was supposed to land or what it was meant for, but the seizure itself raises several serious questions.

While there is a constant threat of LTTE cadres entering Indian soil as refugees for a safe haven and for using India as a supply base, arms being sent into India is a rare phenomenon after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

The police will now have to probe whether this was meant for a specific operation on Indian soil.

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