Four in British court charged with helping Tamil Tigers
LONDON (AFP) — Four men appeared in a London court Thursday charged with conspiring to support Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, a banned group in Britain.
The four were arrested under anti-terror laws over the last two weeks and are accused of conspiring to receive equipment for terrorist purposes between January 2003 and December 2006, the City of London Magistrates' Court heard.
The men were remanded in custody after the preliminary hearing and ordered to appear at the Old Bailey in London on May 23.
Items which they are accused of procuring include radios, extra-strong magnets, laptops, head torches, circuit boards, lithium coin cell batteries, GPS (global positioning systems) and antenna equipment.
The four are Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar, also known as AC Shanthan, 51, of south London; Jegatheswaran Muraleetharan, also known as Muralee Tharan, 46, of Newtown, mid Wales; Jeyatheswaran Vythyatharan, also known as Vithy Tharan, 39, also of Newtown; and Murugesu Jegatheeswaran, also known as M Jegan, 33, of south London.
Police say Muraleetharan and Vythyatharan are brothers. All the men were arrested as part of a long-term police probe into activities linked to the Tamil Tigers.
Three of the men were detained at the end of April in dawn raids at homes and business addresses in Wales and London. A fourth was arrested this week in the Swindon area of southwest England.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is fighting for a separate Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka, is designated a proscribed terrorist organisation under Britain's Terrorism Act 2000.
The rebels have been fighting to carve out an independent homeland for the Tamil minority since 1972. Tens of thousands have died on both sides in the conflict in the Sinhalese-majority nation.
