A mystery account of the LTTE in Europe and now the claims on Prabhakaran

There have been attempts in the past three years about the LTTE trying to revive itself in both India and Pakistan. Now there are claims that Prabhakaran is alive

New Delhi, Feb 14: Tamil Nationalist Movement (TNM) leader P Nedumaran created a storm on Monday when he announced that Velupillai Prabhakaran of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is still alive and would emerge soon.

The Sri Lankan army was quick to categorically deny the claim and said that they had DNA records that the LTTE leader had been killed by them in 2009.

Rumours around the death of Prabhakaran have been afloat ever since he was declared dead by Sri Lanka. Many have claimed that the photograph of his body were photoshopped and the footage doctored. Earlier, political leaders like MDMK founder Vaiko too believed that he was alive.

LTTE back in the news:

While the civil war in Sri Lanka ended officially with the death of Prabhakaran, the LTTE has been a lot in the news in the past one year. In February 2022, the Intelligence Bureau had warned about the possible resurgence of the group as there are attempts being made to revive the outfit. In the same month the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had booked three people in a fake passport case under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA.

The probe by the NIA revealed that some former members of the LTTE based out of Europe were trying to withdraw money and use it to revive the outfit.

The probe revealed that operatives based out of Switzerland and Denmark were trying to withdraw money and fund the activities of the outfit that is now defunct. In the past couple of years, there has been enhanced activities around the LTTE. A source tells OneIndia that these former operatives have been funding webinars to speak about the importance of reviving the outfit. They had targeted people in rural Tamil Nadu and NGOs too were involved in arranging these webinars. During these webinars, the speakers linked the revival of the LTTE to Tamil nationalism.

The money in these accounts run into crores of Rupees and they have been lying there untouched.

The drug mafia:

While on one hand attempts are being made to withdraw the money, in another case it was found that the drug mafia was being used to fund the revival of the LTTE. During the raids at the residence of one Gunashekaran C in August last year, the NIA the said mafia being controlled by Gunashekaran in association with one Haji Salim, an arms and drugs supplier based in Pakistan has been operating in India and Sri Lanka.

The agency also said that these operatives who are dealing in illegal drugs and arms and are using the proceeds to try and revive the LTTE both in India and Sri Lanka.

How the case came to light:

Italy began with the arrest of one Sri Lankan national, Letchumanan Mary Franciska (50) from the Chennai Airport.She was arrested for holding a fake Indian passport. She had entered India in December 2019 on a tourist visa which was valid for one year. She stayed back in India citing the COVID-19 outbreak. Later she took a house on rent at the Shakti Colony in Annanagar and while getting a rental agreement made, she hid her nationality. She used this rental agreement to get an LPG connection in her name and this she later used to get herself a fake passport.

The case was transferred to the NIA after it was found that she had links with the LTTE.

Prior to this, ore details about the revival of the LTTE had cropped up following the arrest of one Sabasena in October 2021. Sabasena was a former intelligence offierof the LTTE and he had been arrested in connection with an arms racket case.