5 LTTE operatives held with bomb-making consignment

The 8216;Q8217; Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police today arrested five Sri Lankan Tamils, suspected to be LTTE operatives, while attempting to smuggle a truck with two tonnes of ball bearings used in the manufacture of explosives.

The 8216;Q8217; Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police today arrested five Sri Lankan Tamils, suspected to be LTTE operatives, while attempting to smuggle a truck with two tonnes of ball bearings used in the manufacture of explosives. One more person, Vellasamy Prabhakaran alias Veluchamy, a resident of Tuticorin, was arrested and three tonnes of ball bearings seized from his residence.

The iron balls, measuring 8 mm in diametre, were purchased from a small automobile spareparts company in Mumbai8217;s Dadar locality, police said, adding that the company may not be aware of the identity of the buyers. The consignment had arrived in Chennai and then taken by a lorry to Tuticorin from where it was to be dispatched by illegal ferries to northern Sri Lanka.

8220;We believe all of those arrested are LTTE supporters and the ball bearings were meant for making explosives for use by the rebel group,8217;8217; a senior police officer said. Only two months ago, on November 29 last year, police had seized 1,500 kg of gelex boosters from a car near Madurai. There were serveral polythene bags in the consignment leading the police to deduct that the explosives were to travel by sea to Sri Lanka.

The five Lankan Tamils were nabbed last evening while loading the gunny bags of ball bearings into a mini-truck at the Naval Hospital Road Junction in Periamedu near the Chennai Central Railway Station. Those arrested include Sivakaran 33, a Sri Lankan refugee from Jaffna who arrived in Rameshwaram in 2003 and was staying in the Mandapam camp. He left the camp in 2002 and was indulging in 8220;suspicious activities8221;, a police press release said, adding that the Q Branch had kept him under surveillance and finally tracked him to Periamedu in Chennai. Others arrested include Sivasanthan 34, also from Jaffna, Nithy 18 from Batticaloa, Karan 26, Killinochchi and Bharathidasan 22 of Jaffna.

Rashid Ahmed, the driver of the mini-lorry in which the consignment was to travel to Tuticorin, Mayilvahanan, the driver of the car in which the five Lankan Tamils had arrived from Tiruchy to Chennai, and Jayavel, the owner of the mini-truck have also been arrested. All eight were arrested under Section 120B IPC criminal Conspiracy read with Sections 10 and 13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Section 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1967, and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.