FBI WARNS NOT TO DONATE FOR
BOGUS LTTE CHARITIES
ON THE EVE OF THE TRO’S MEGA STAR
EVENTS IN LONDON AND PARIS
By Rangajeeva Rajakaruna
Calling the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam “are among the most
dangerous and deadly extremists in the world” America’s FBI
warned not to donate money for bogus charities that act as front organizations
of the group that divert money to buy arms for terrorism.
The warning came while the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO),
banned in the USA as a LTTE front and White Pigeon, the alleged successor,
to the TRO in Britain, have organized two “mega star events”-
concerts, using South Indian cinema stars targeting few million pounds
as income.
The FBI official website in its lead story said, “You can help
by being careful with your donations. Like other terrorists, the Tigers
have raised funds under a variety of cover organizations, often by posing
as charities. A great deal of money, for example, was raised for the
Tigers following the 2004 tsunami that devastated Sri Lanka and many
other countries.”
The TRO sponsored concerts are scheduled to be held in Paris on January
13 and a White Pigeon sponsored concert is scheduled to be held in London
on January 12.
Publishing its lead story under the heading of taming the Tigers from
here in the US, the FBI web site said, “As terrorist groups go,
it has quite a résumé: Perfected the use of suicide bombers;
Invented the suicide belt; Pioneered the use of women in suicide attacks;
Murdered some 4,000 people in the past two years alone; and Assassinated
two world leaders—the only terrorist organization to do so.”
“No, it’s not al Qaeda or Hezbollah or even HAMAS. The group
is called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or the Tamil Tigers
for short. Needless to say, the Tamil Tigers are among the most dangerous
and deadly extremists in the world. For more than three decades, the
group has launched a campaign of violence and bloodshed in Sri Lanka,
the island republic off the southern coast of India.”
“Its ultimate goal: to seize control of the country from the Sinhalese
ethnic majority and create an independent Tamil state. Along the way,
it has launched suicide attacks, assassinated politicians (including
a government minister this week and even the Sri Lankan President),
taken hostages, and committed all of kinds of crimes to finance its
operations. The resulting civil war has taken the lives of nearly 70,000
Sri Lankans on both sides of the conflict since 1983 alone.
“Why should you care? Certainly because of the suffering and bloodshed
that the Tamil Tigers have caused. And because its ruthless tactics
have inspired terrorist networks worldwide, including al Qaeda in Iraq.
But also because the group has placed operatives right here in our own
backyard, discreetly raising money to fund its bloody terrorist campaign
overseas, including purchases of weapons and explosives.
“The U.S. government has designated the Tigers a foreign terrorist
organization, so their activities here are illegal. And we’re determined
to stop them, using the full range of our investigative and intelligence
capabilities.
“In April, for example, we struck an important blow when our Joint
Terrorism Task Force in New York arrested the alleged U.S. director
of the Tigers. The man supposedly held several fundraising events at
a church and various public schools in Queens and in northern New Jersey
in 2004. He is also accused of arranging high-level meetings between
the group’s leaders and U.S. supporters.
“We’ve also arrested another 11 Tamil Tiger-related suspects
in the New York City region. And in Baltimore, following a multi-agency
investigation, a pair of Indonesian men pled guilty and were sentenced
recently for working with others to export surface to air missiles,
state-of-the-art firearms, machine guns, and night vision goggles to
the Tigers in Sri Lanka.”
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