http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20110806_04

Tamil Tigers sneak through Schagen

The Dutch judiciary says that Tamil Tiger leaders in the Netherlands have played a prominent role in financing the civil war in Sri Lanka. The 10,000 Tamils in the Netherlands, Police say, were under the iron grip of the guerilla group.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) waged a bloody war for a quarter of a century in Sri Lanka, but on May 17th, 2009, it admitted defeat to the country's majority Sinhalese regime. Tamil Tiger founder and chairman Velupillai Prabhakaran died the following day, killed while he attempted a desperate escape from the battlefield in an ambulance.
Meanwhile, some 8,300 km north of that battleground, Tamil Tiger representatives in places like Schagen, The Hague, Breda, Zeist, Raalte and Ammerzoden had yet to capitulate. Their struggle for a Tamil homeland continued. The Dutch police said that until their arrest in 2010, the Dutch Tamils had remained active in raising funds and organizing meetings to gather support for their struggle and liberation organization.
This came to light through digital information obtained from Ramachandran S., 52, a Dutch Tamil from Schagen who was arrested in April last year. He had 'plans for financial activities' in his possession, which called for continued fundraising to support the remaining LTTE warriors hidden in the jungles of northern Sri Lanka. For that purpose, a new fund was supposed to be set up under Ramachandran's supervision, according to a judicial report on the investigation.
Operation Koninck
The investigation into possible criminal activities by the Tigers in the Netherlands has been ongoing for the past two years under the code name 'Operation Koninck.' The criminal investigation department has so far identified 38 Tamils and five legal entities as suspects. They are under suspicion for financially supporting or taking part in a criminal organization. The LTTE was placed on a European Union list of terrorist organisations. According to the judiciary, the LTTE has been responsible for a reign of terror in northern Sri Lanka. It has carried out numerous bomb attacks and assassinations.
The Tigers murdered former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa two years later. The United Nations and UNICEF have also accused the Tigers of recruiting child soldiers.
Ramachandran is one of the two Dutch Tamils detained for 13 months. According to the judiciary, he is one of the international leaders of the organisation. The Dutch officials say that he ranks high within the LTTE and has been responsible for large sums of money coming through from the Netherlands, which has subsequently been used to buy arms. It is assumed that Ramachandran oversaw a flow of money worth some EUR136 million worldwide, according to an analysis by the fiscal investigative body Fiod, based on information obtained from a USB stick found in his home.
Dutch authorities also say that Ramachandran organised the money flow. Messengers with cash are sent to countries where purchases can be made. Money was being transferred, and sometimes LTTE money in a certain country would be used to buy jewellery, which in turn would be resold elsewhere. The bookkeeping was meticulous, with even the travel costs of the suspects neatly written down, as were the salaries received by the two main suspects from the LTTE. Rent and insurance were also reimbursed.
Battlefield
Another Tamil detainee, locked up since last year, is 46-year-old Srirangam R. from The Hague, who is believed to be the leader of the Tamil Tigers's Dutch division. This man, like a number of other suspects, fled from Sri Lanka to the Netherlands two decades ago. The Dutch public prosecutor's office suspects him of being instrumental in a number of functions, including fundraising and propaganda.
In cooperation with Sri Lankan colleagues, the Dutch investigative team was able to inspect Tamil Tiger documents which were seized by the Sri Lankan military in areas which had been under LTTE control until 2009. Among those documents was a form filled out by Ramachandran in 2003, saying that he was responsible for LTTE activities in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. He wrote on the form that he had been active in the organization since 1989, and that he had also worked in other countries. The documents were created when LTTE representatives from abroad met each other in Sri Lanka.
"By going to the battlefield and visiting the warriors, I realized how many obstacles and how much grief these people have to endure while they sacrifice themselves in a life of combat. This has formed and stimulated us even more," Srirangam wrote about the meeting in 2003. The text had been translated from the Tamil language. Almost all the Tiger suspects speak little Dutch although they have lived in the Netherlands for many years.
Espionage
'Operation Koninck' started in 2009 after a report by the Dutch intelligence and security bureau AIVD. For years the AIVD, in cooperation with intelligence services from other countries, investigated the overseas activities of the LTTE representatives. Criminal investigations into Tamil Tiger activists are also ongoing in countries such as Canada, Australia, the UK, France and Italy. The AIVD reported on extortion practices by Tamils in the Netherlands to the Dutch judiciary in October 2008.
The Dutch public prosecution office suspects that LTTE has organized fundraising activities in the country since 1984. The LTTE held the Tamil community in the Netherlands, numbering some 10,000 people, in its iron grip, according to the Dutch authorities. Detailed records were seized from the suspects, listing all the Tamil families in the Netherlands, complete with specific codes identifying each of them. The Tigers knew how much these people earned, and in turn they had to donate money to the Tigers according to their income.
Donations are raised during sporting events, fairs, lotteries and demonstrations. The Tigers also make house calls to Dutch Tamils. Since 2005, the Tamil Tigers in many countries started organizing large fundraising activities for their 'ultimate war' which would lead to a free Tamil state. In the Netherlands, the Tigers demanded a donation of EUR2,000 from each Tamil family. People who have given their donation would get a specific number which can then be shown to guards on the borders of Tamil territory, and this would be used as an entrance code. Those who refuse to pay, Dutch authorities say, would be threatened: not paying the so-called war tax would have consequences for family members in Sri Lanka.
According to Dutch investigation, the LTTE in the Netherlands is divided into seven districts. Each district head is responsible for fundraising for the organization's war funds. It is believed that the Tigers have set up a number of dummy organizations which hand over money to the LTTE. These organizations include the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC), the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), the Tamil Youth Organization (TYO), the Tamil women's organization TVO, and the Tamil Dutch art and cultural organization TKCO.
120 files
'Operation Koninck' has been described by the judiciary as very complex and elaborate. Some 90 witnesses have been heard, dozens of house searches have been conducted, and numerous documents, photos, computers, CDs and DVDs have been obtained. Detectives from the Crime Investigation Department have gathered 120 files on the case with a wren branded on them (wren in Dutch is winterkoning, the basis for the name of the operation). The judiciary now has large quantities of propaganda material such as films, books and calendars honouring Tamils who have gone on suicide missions. The digital material is particularly plentiful with the Dutch authorities possessing around 6,000 gigabytes worth of information.
More material is expected to be obtained in the coming weeks. At the request of the Netherlands, Norway will be carrying out house searches at the home of a Tamil with the code name Nediyavan. According to officials, he is one of the LTTE's new leaders. On Wednesday a Dutch investigative team, along with lawyers of the suspects in the Netherlands, will travel to Oslo to interrogate Nediyavan.
The Dutch magistrates and lawyers are also to travel to the US to interrogate, among others, Pratheepan T. This man has settled a plea bargain deal with the US authorities by admitting that he has purchased weapons for the Tigers. Information from Pratheepan T's computer apparently revealed that Ramachandran from the Netherlands had cooperated with Pratheepan in the weapon purchases.
Next month, the Dutch plan to interrogate 13 witnesses in Sri Lanka. The Dutch authorities are currently negotiating with Sri Lankan Attorney General Mohan Peiris to get permission to speak with former and current LTTE members. The Dutch also aim to interrogate Kumaran Pathmanabhan, or KP, who is a detained former LTTE leader.
Fight for freedom
The lawyers for the two main suspects - Victor Koppe for Srirangam and Hester Seton for Ramachandran - assert that the Dutch judiciary has been very one-sided in its LTTE investigation. The public prosecution's office, Koppe says, is insufficiently aware of the political dimensions in the criminal investigation into the Tamils in the Netherlands. In Sri Lanka, Koppe explains, people speak of a fight for freedom of the Tamils against the Sri Lankan state. He accuses the Dutch judiciary of reducing this complex political situation to a plain, simplistic terrorism problem, which undermines the inferior position of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Koppe further stresses that the struggle towards an independent Tamil Eelam is a political conviction which is guaranteed as a fundamental right, and thus could not be a basis for criminal proceedings. The Netherlands, he says, does not recognise the superior right of the victor. Thus, the lawyer says that it would also be wrong to cooperate with the Sri Lankan authorities in the investigation. He pointed out that the Sri Lankan government has a very poor record in upholding human rights.
Sceptics
Koppe, at the request of the LTTE, filed an appeal last month at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to counter the decision by the EU to place the LTTE on the list of terrorist organisations. This decision has frustrated the Tamils' right for self determination. In turn, the petition is one more proof for the Dutch judiciary of the continued existence of the Tamil Tigers.
The request before the European Court formally comes from the LTTE's European political subdivision, which claims that it uses only non-violent means. This claim, however, has been met with a great deal of scepticism given the group's extremely violent history. Koppe compares the assessment on the situation in Sri Lanka to those in Egypt and Libya. It is fascinating, he says, that Libyan groups which fight against their state get immediate political, military and emotional support. Koppe questions why the Tamils do not get the same kind of support. Why, he continues, does the Tamil question only come into the limelight when it has to do with criminal proceedings against the Tamil Tigers?
Tsunami victims
Hester Seton, Ramachandran's lawyer, finds it objectionable that the judiciary assumes that all the money gathered by the Tamils was meant for armed struggle. Seton points out that Tamils have also gathered funds for tsunami victims or the rebuilding of schools. The lawyers accuse the judiciary of criminalizing all Dutch Tamils. Municipalities are already informed about the activities of the Tamils even before any criminal court case has officially started. That, to put it mildly, is premature, Seton says. Municipalities have been informed by the police about the investigation, and have been warned about giving permission for Tamil gatherings since these occasions are supposedly often used to hold LTTE fundraisers. Administrative documents reveal that 'support money' has been received from municipalities, the police say, fearing that LTTE dummy organisations may have received municipal subsidies. Detectives also say that there is a network of 21 Tamil schools in the Netherlands where the armed Tamil struggle is glorified.
'Operation Koninck' has sent shockwaves through the Dutch Tamil community. Some 600 Tamil families in February received a letter, personally written by investigative team leader Gert van Doorn. Your name has been found on one or more lists as a contributor to Tamil organizations, the letter says. Van Doorn explains that these are dummy organizations for the LTTE. Deliberate contribution towards such organizations could lead to investigation and criminal proceedings, the police officer warns.
Only a few Tamil gatherings have taken place in the past months. The websites of Tamil organizations in the Netherlands have been taken off the air. On the annual Tamil heroes' celebration of Maveerar Naal, held on November 27th in Almere, there were hardly any remarks from the LTTE, detectives ascertained. In the past, this celebration was a markedly Tiger occasion.
It has been problematic for the police to gather witness testimonies amongst the Tamil community. Witnesses continue to be scared to give testimonies, or go back to the police and revoke previous statements, the judiciary said earlier this year. The NRC daily also did not succeed in speaking to Tamils. Seton believes that the Tamil community's fear and suspicion towards the media is too great right now. She further says that Tamils are also limiting contact amongst each other. Tamils in the Netherlands are even afraid to make normal phone calls, worried that their conversation would be tapped.
Courtesy : Netherlands Radio Worldwide- published on 23 May 2011