London police search Lankan doctor’s residence

The British police have searched the Enfield residence of Dr Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy, a London medical practitioner who is one of over a dozen persons from the US and Canada arrested following FBI investigations, sources said.

He was detained in the US after wide-ranging FBI investigations that covered attempts by the LTTE and its supporters to buy sophisticated weaponry and trying to bribe supposedly corrupt State Department officials on matters relating to the proscribed terrorist organisation. The police are reported to have removed computers and other material from his house, The Sunday Times learns.

It is also reported that Dr. Vinayagamoorthy's wife, Pushpam, who is also a medical doctor working along with her husband as general practitioners for the National Health Service at their Enfield Surgery, has been relieved of her right to practice by the British General Medical Council until further notice.

The Medical Council is the regulatory body in the UK and is understood to have done so following the arrest of her husband. It is also understood that concerned persons raised the issue of Dr Vinayagamoorthy's arrest on alleged terrorist related issues with the General Medical Council. It is said that the GMC took the decision in the interest of the patients registered at the couple's surgery.