4.5 METRIC TONS OF IRON BALLS AND DMK SUPPORTER WHO GAVE 17 HUNDRED THOUSAND INDIAN RUPEES FOR THE DEAL IN CUSTODY

By Walter Jayawardha

In a statement made on March 9 the Tamil Nadu Police said in its activities during the last three days the Q Branch dealing with terrorists have arrested 4.5 tonnes of iron balls meant for Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and a prominent ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) supporter name Barkat alias Idayathullah of Mannady Chennai for providing more than 17 hundred thousand Indian Rupees for the transaction of irorn balls .

The irorn balls taken into police custody at a place called Perambalur near the state capital Chennai, the Police said, were hidden in a building owned by one Ramesh Kumar who was running a soap making factory in the building.

The Police also had seized Indian Rupeees 2.6 millions and several motor vehicles of different makes, in these connections , he said.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is widely known to be using the irorn balls smuggled from India in the manufacture of claymore and other mines targeting civilians and security forces in their wide spread terrorist activities.

Director General of Police in Tamil Nadu, D. Mukerjee said the man who was suspected for the smuggling of the iron balls to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka from Rameshwaram, a 46 year old man named Raju was also arrested by the Q Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police.

The Police obtained information about the alleged smuggler by interrogating a Sri Lanka man named Rahul alias Antony who was taken into custody few days earlier, he said.

The irorn balls which were locked inside a room owned by Ramesh Kumar had been allegedly bought by the 17,66,000 Indian Rupees supplied by Idayathullah alias Barkat in four installments , Mukerjee said. The workers at the soap factory did not know the existence of the iron balls there.
The police said a man named Satish, from Sri Lanka and presently there , had come to visit Tamil Nadu recently and is known to Ramesh Kumar. Rahul also had come from Sri Lanka, police said.
Director General of Police Mukerjee said since November 2006 41 people including 16 Sri Lankans have been arrested in the connections of the terrorist activities. He said 10 of those have been detained under the National Security Act.

Mukerjee said, "The police are continuing effective patrolling along the coastal belt, besides stepping up security arrangements. Strict action is being taken and will continue to be taken, irrespective of whichever political party or organisation they belong to, against those who extend support to the LTTE directly or those who clandestinely provide financial and material support and against those extending support unlawfully in any other way."

He further said that his department was working in conjunction with the navy, coast guard and the intelligence bureau and was in the process of ‘'taking stringent action to prevent infiltration of Tamil militants in Tamil Nadu by stepping up security arrangements in the coastal districts.'’

He said the state government had issued instructions to the police to step up vigil and take stringent action against those attempting to smuggle explosives and arms to the LTTE.