Terrorist-linked trio nabbed in East London

By Asif Fuard

In a raid carried out during the wee hours of yesterday in a house in East London, Scotland Yard detectives nabbed two Sri Lankans who are suspected to be Tamil Tiger operatives and a Lebanese believed to be a Hezbollah operative. The three men who were arrested in Newham in East London were charged under the UK Terrorism Act which prohibits support for a terrorist organisation.

The Scotland Yard detectives were said to have acted on vital information provided by Britain’s counter intelligence and security agency MI-5. A Scotland Yard official who spoke to The Sunday Times from London on grounds of anonymity said the three men were involved in funding as well as selling military information and manuals to terrorist organisations.

“When our officers raided the place we uncovered nearly 200,000 pounds in cash, eight credit cards and manuals and CDs on the making of missiles and some classified details of naval weapons,” he said. “The suspected Hezbollah operative was working hand in hand with the Tamil Tigers. Our preliminary investigations have revealed that he had been involved in purchasing these manuals and CDs for the Tamil Tigers,” he said.

The detectives were trying to ascertain if the three men arrested yesterday had any connection with the British Tamil Association president A.C. Shanthan who was arrested two weeks ago for financing terrorism.