A Happy day which gave an icing on the cake for patriotic sri lankans.

KP ARRESTED what a news! 8/7/2009 10:13:38 AM
Most wanted LTTE terrorist for International Police (Interpol) and local security divisions Kumaran Padmanadan alias KP has been taken in to custody by Sri Lankan law enforcement authorities, defence sources revealed.
The suspect is known to be responsible for cross-boarder terrorist activities of liberation Tiger of the Tamil Elam (LTTE).
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090806_11

LTTE’s self appointed leader after the annihilation of its top leadership and the organization’s long term international arms procurer Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP had been arrested in an East Asian country following a joint intelligence and military operation by a Sri Lankan team, defence sources confirmed last night.
Government Defence Spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella speaking to Rupavahini last night confirmed the arrest of KP and said it was a big blow to the remaining foreign network of the LTTE.
According to defence sources the arrest had been made following weeks long intelligence operation in East Asia by several teams from Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan intelligence and military teams with the help of authorities in those countries had arrested and interrogated several LTTE operatives in East Asia who had been in contact with Pathmanathan. KP had been arrested on Wednesday night based on information extracted from them.
The state television Rupavahini broke the news last night and announced that Kumaran Pathmanathan had been arrested. Fifty four year old Pathmanathan is on Interpol's most wanted list for various charges including arms smuggling and criminal conspiracy. He is also wanted by India in connection with the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and for violation of the Terrorist Act and the Indian Explosive Act.
Pathmanathan was one of the top LTTE officials and the chief procurer of arms for the organization. He ran a global network of LTTE offices which were engaged in its weapons procurement, logistics and money laundering operations. Initially based in Malaysia, where he set up a shipping company in 1987, he was forced to move out after the Malaysian Special Branch cracked down on LTTE activities in the country in 1990, culminating in the seizure of an LTTE ship the same year. Pathmanathan then moved to Thailand, which became a safe haven for the LTTE. There he established himself as the head of banking, procurement and shipping for the LTTE. He is believed to have obtained citizenship of Thailand.
On an earlier occasion in 2007 there were conflicting reports from Thailand that Pathmanathan had been arrested on September 11, 2007. The reports were preceded by the detention in Ranong Province of three other LTTE operatives the month before, for trying to buy guns and 45,000 rounds of ammunition.

Kumaran Pathmanathan also known as KP is now being questioned in Colombo. The Hindustan Times today quotes MP Basil Rajapaksa as saying KP was flown down to Colombo following his arrest although details of how arrest was conducted was not revealed.
Pathmanathan had met with two visitors from London, England at a hotel room in KL in the afternoon of August 5th.
He had received a call on his cellular phone. KP had then signaled to his visitors that he was going out to the corridor and walked away while conversing on the phone.
He had not returned for a long time and the when the worried visitors from Britain went out in search there was no sign of the new global tiger chief.
Meanwhile the friend who had been talking to KP on the phone had heard a sudden thud and some noise while chatting. The phone went dead and repeated calls were not successful.
The friend then alerted some assistants of KP in Malaysia who went in search of KP to the place where he was staying in KL. The place was empty but KP’s insulin and syringes and other medical stuff was still there.
The visitors from London also got alarmed and contacted circles close to KP.
Meanwhile KP seized in Malaysia was taken to Bangkok in Thailand.
Sri Lankan authorities were contacted and a team from the Police Terrorist Investigation Department flew to Bangkok in the early hours of Thurasday August 6th.
The team returned with Pathmanathan alias KP on a special flight on the same day.
KP was handcuffed and had a mask covering his head and face when disembarking from the plane at Katunayake Airport.
He was whisked away in a vehicle with tinted glasses to a high-security , secret location run by the terrorism investigation dept personnel.
KP is to be interrogated intensively by Sri Lankan anti-terrorist sleuths.
It is widely believed that the arrest was made possible through “inside information” supplied by some members of the LTTE abroad who were opposed to KP donning the tiger leadership mantle after the demise of supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.

New LTTEleader Selvarajah Pathmanathan aka KP, who was arrested overseas and brought to Colombo on Thursday, has begun to divulge vital information about the LTTE and himself.
The Island learns that the entire operation was handled by Sri Lankans.
Sources described KP in captivity as rattled and co-operative, though he had been projected by the pro-LTTE media as a tough man.
Exactly where KP was arrested is not yet known. According to initial reports he was nabbed in Thailand, but the Thai press says the Thai government is unaware of any such arrest and has ordered a probe into the reports at issue. LTTE activists overseas insist that KP was arrested in Malaysia. They say a charter flight was used to bring him to Katunayake, from where he was flown to a secret location in a military helicopter.
A top defence official contacted for comment declined to reveal where KPhad been taken in and how he had been brought to Sri Lanka. “What matters now is that he is in Sri Lanka,” the official said, “we took him and delivered him to the governmnet in one piece.”
Asked repeatedly at a press briefing in Colomb yesterday where the arrest had been made, Defence Spokesman and Minister of Foreign Employment Promotions and Welfare Keheliya Rambukwella refused to go into specifics. He curtly said KPhad been arrested in a Southeast Asian country.
The Sri Lankan government has indicated its willingness to hand over KP to India in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination and other violations of the Indian law.
Minister Rambukwella said the government would certainly let New Delhi have KP if a request to that effect was made. He said no such request had been made so far.
Sources said KP, now being questioned at an undisclosed location, was spilling the beans on his local financiers who helped the LTTE buy arms and ammunition.
The government, sources said, was banking on KP’s arrest to elicit infomation on the LTTE’s gun running and narcotics operations which pose a threat to the entire region.
-Island.lk-

Sri Lanka is capable of defeating LTTE terrorism wherever it emerges- Defence spokesperson on KP's arrest
Sri Lankan forces, intelligence units and other defence authorities are capable of defeating LTTE terrorism wherever or whenever it tries to reemerge, says government Defence Spokesperson, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.
Speaking at a special media briefing held at the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS), Colombo; Minister said that LTTE's self claimed leader after V. Prabhakaran and the outfit's head for international terrorist activities Kumaran Pathmanadan alias KP was arrested outside the island yesterday (Aug 6) and brought into the country this morning (Aug 7).
The Minister underscored the importance of the arrest as the removal of the remaining LTTE leader who tried to overshadow the country's victory over terrorism.
" Though we have successfully defeated LTTE in the battle, a seed of doubt was left in the minds of average persons that there was a possibility for KP to resume the terrorist activities , owing to the connection he had with international terrorist network.", said the Minister.
The Minister further pointed out that there has been a clear attempt by some of the unpatriotic

politicians to down play the forces victory over terrorism and to promote an idea that LTTE will make a comeback with KP's leadership.
"Our defence authorities have foreseen this situation, and proactively and determinedly taken action to defeat this and also taken the key LTTE remnant into custody", he said.
Also, he highlighted though the suspect was among the most wanted terrorist by many INTETPOL and various other foreign law enforcement agencies, it was the Sri Lankan authorities that finally located him.
Finally, the Minster pointed out the international support that Sri Lanka is currently having in her endeavor to curb terrorist activities. Though he did not divulge all the details of the arrest due to security reasons, he said that arrest was made a success due to the unreserved , and adequate support of the " international friends" of Sri Lanka.





Open letter to Murray McCully, New Zealand Minister of Foreign AffairsPosted on June 16th, 2009
Roshan Mendis NEW ZEALAND
Dear Mr McCully,
I am deeply concerned that the National-led government has failed to designate the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist entity, despite pre-election pledges by National to move swiftly to bring New Zealand into line with our like minded allies on this issue. I refer to your newsletter of 8 August, 2008, in which you categorically assert, “‘That the Tamil Tigers are fully fledged terrorists is beyond dispute.”
In the aftermath of the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, the Tigers are pinning all their hopes for revival on the concerted efforts of the diaspora. Unable to directly raise funds or operate effectively in Australia, Canada, the US or the EU, New Zealand is increasingly becoming the country of choice for the Tigers to regroup and reorganize. LTTE cells operating in Auckland and Wellington have assumed responsibility for fundraising and procurement efforts throughout Australasia, previously co-ordinated from Melbourne. Emboldened by the Government’s inaction, certain front organizations have even used taxpayer-funded community grants to print Tamil Tiger posters and flags for so-called ‘cultural’ functions. It seems incredible that the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) continues to function openly in this country (with a registered address of 371 Dominion Road, Mt. Eden, Auckland) despite being unequivocally exposed as a front for the Tamil Tigers. Just this week, four Tamil defendants on trial in New York pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to the LTTE by laundering millions of dollars through the TRO.
I understand that the reluctance to proscribe the Tamil Tigers derives from historical concerns in some quarters that doing so during the ceasefire period would destabilize the peace process, and that doing so during the fighting would make the Tigers less inclined to agree to a future ceasefire. Clearly, both these concerns are no longer valid. I have to wonder then why the government continues to drag its feet on this important issue. I sincerely hope that your government has not compromised on its earlier principled position on this matter as a result of the sustained and intense lobbying it has come under by a section of the Tamil community. While moving to designate the Tamil Tigers would no doubt ruffle the feathers of some of the Tamil community residing here, the overwhelming majority of South Asian immigrants in New Zealand would be strongly supportive of such a move. I need not remind you that among the large Indian diaspora resident in New Zealand, there is no love for the Tamil Tigers, particularly since the organization assassinated former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
In the event, I would be grateful for your responses to the following:
1) Do you still consider the Tamil Tigers to be ‘fully fledged terrorists’ as per your assertion in 2008?
2) Are you aware that the LTTE has stepped up its activities in New Zealand in recent months?
3) Do you still consider it necessary to use the post-September 11 toolkit of counter-terrorism legislation to make groups such as the Tamil Tigers subject to special scrutiny from counter terrorism authorities?
3) Has the government abandoned plans to designate the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization? If so, what is the basis for this change of position?
I look forward to your reply to my specific queries at your earliest possible convenience.
Many thanks,
Kind regards,
Roshan Mendis