TAMIL NADU POLICE ARREST SUSPECTED LTTE SMUGGLERS, STEP UP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000086 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PTER IN CE SUBJECT: TAMIL NADU POLICE ARREST SUSPECTED LTTE SMUGGLERS, STEP UP REFUGEE SCREENING REF: 06 CHENNAI 2601 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Seizing thousands of kilos of iron ball bearings from suspected smugglers, Tamil Nadu (TN) police appear to have busted an emerging LTTE supply line. TN police believe the ball bearings were meant to be used in LTTE's explosive devices to enhance their lethality. The seizures led to the arrest of 11 persons in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai, five of them Sri Lankan Tamils. Following reports of refugee disappearances from camps in the state, Tamil Nadu police have begun closer monitoring, including fingerprinting and videotaping new arrivals. New refugee arrivals, however, have considerably dwindled compared to mid 2006. END SUMMARY TAMIL NADU POLICE BUST SUSPECTED LTTE SUPPLY LINE -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The anti-terrorist wing (Q-Branch) of the Tamil Nadu state police seized 7500 kilos of iron ball bearings meant to be smuggled to Sri Lanka and arrested 11 people including five Sri Lankan Tamils. The January 23-29 search and arrest operations covered Chennai and Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, as well as Mumbai where two Indians were arrested for supplying the ball bearings. In November 2006, the police had seized thousands of "gelex boosters" in south Tamil Nadu and arrested three persons for allegedly trying to smuggle them to Sri Lanka (reftel). ¶3. (SBU) Additional Director General of Tamil Nadu Police (Intelligence) Nanjil Kumaran (protect) told us the police believe the ball bearings were meant to be used by the LTTE in their Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to enhance lethality. According to preliminary information, this was the first attempt by the group to smuggle ball bearings to Sri Lanka. Asked if the recent seizures indicate heightened LTTE smuggling activity through Tamil Nadu, he said: "Had we not seriously pursued the investigations and arrested the culprits, the smuggling activity would have picked up in the future." "NO TOLERENCE FOR LTTE ACTIVITY AND PRESENCE" -------------- ¶4. (SBU) According to Kumaran, Tamil Nadu police will not tolerate "any LTTE activity and presence" in the state. "Politically, the DMK government has sympathy for the just cause of Sri Lankan Tamils, but that does not mean extending support to the LTTE," he said. DMK leaders understand their coalition partner Congress' sensitivities �0A;on the issue, he explained, adding that the Congress will never forget the trauma of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991 in Tamil Nadu. Kumaran, then serving as Superintendent of Police in change of Security, himself suffered injuries in the LTTE bombing that killed Gandhi. "My colleagues thought I was dead," Kumaran said, recalling the incident when he was found lying unconscious, wounded by dozens of pieces of shrapnel. "Nobody in Tamil Nadu will forget the Rajiv Gandhi assassination," he said, and described the act as "the biggest blunder the LTTE ever committed." REFUGEES BEING MORE CLOSELY MONITORED -------------- ¶5. (SBU) According to media reports, one of the arrested Sri Lankans had come to India as a refugee and stayed at the Mandapam Refugee camp from 2000-2002 before disappearing. Other news reports of refugees disappearing from Tamil Nadu camps to take illegal ferries to the island have prompted the Tamil Nadu police to step up security monitoring. Public and Rehabilitation Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, S. Audiseshiah, told us that state police are now taking fingerprints and video images of the refugees arriving Tamil Nadu. Audiseshiah, however, described the move as not representing any policy change towards the refugees. He added that the new arrivals are only a trickle and in terms of numbers, easily manageable. REFUGEE ARRIVALS MUCH LOWER THAN MID 2006 -------------- ¶6. (SBU) According to the statistics of the Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR),a refugee relief NGO, recent refugee arrivals have dwindled from the levels of May-September of ¶2006. A total of 16,886 refugees have landed in Tamil Nadu from the beginning of January 2006 to the end of January 2007. The monthly figures are as follows: 2006 January: 304 February: 193 March: 71 April: 43 CHENNAI 00000086 002 OF 002 May: 1456 June: 1770 July: 1822 August: 5769 September: 3749 October: 735 November: 314 December: 266 2007 January: 394 A MESSAGE TO THE LTTE AND REASSURANCE TO NEW DELHI -------------- -------------- ¶7. (SBU) COMMENT: It is unclear whether any of the arrested Sri Lankans are hardcore LTTE members or just their hired middlemen. The Tamil Nadu government and police have used the opportunity of the smuggling arrests to send a message to the LTTE as well as to the UPA government at the Center that, notwithstanding sympathies towards the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the DMK government will offer no support to the LTTE militancy. The decrease in refugee arrivals, far below the huge outflow we believe would serve as a tripwire for heightened political sensitivities in Tamil Nadu, also gives the state government considerable leeway for handling the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. END COMMENT HOPPER