Tigers disown US arrested arms buyers

The Tiger have denied that they tried to buy arms from US dealers.LTTE military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said that the organisation had ‘nothing to do’ with the men arrested in the US on charges of conspiring to buy missiles."We don’t know who they are," BBC Sandeshaya quoted Ilanthirayan as saying.Police in the United States said they have arrested a number of people on suspicion of conspiring to buy arms for Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels. The men are accused of conspiring to buy surface-to-air missiles and assault rifles for the rebels. Some of the arrested are also accused of seeking to bribe US officials to have the rebel movement removed from the US list of terrorist organisations. The police said the arrests were made in sting operations across the US. The agency quoted Permanent Representative for Sri Lanka in the UN, Prasad Kariyawasam, that the men had tried to buy missiles worth of US$ one million."They have also admitted having bank accounts in Swiss banks and other countries," he said.Kariyawasam said the men will have to serve 10-15 years imprisonment if found guilty.But Ilanthirayan said the ‘biggest supplier’ of arms for the LTTE is Sri Lanka military.The charges also include using charities sympathetic to the rebels as a front for money-laundering and fund-raising. In a detailed report, Human Rights Watch earlier accused the LTTE supporters of forcefully collecting money from Tamil diaspora mainly in Canada and UK for the Tigers.