Prabhakaran's close aide held in India

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Prabhakarans close aide held in India
File photo of Prabhakaran.

Colombo - K. Krishnakumar was arrested with 75 cyanide capsules, 300 grams of cyanide, four Global Positioning System sets and seven mobile phones at coastal Uchipulli.

By Qadijah Irshad

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Published: Thu 23 Jul 2015, 12:00 AM

Last updated: Thu 23 Jul 2015, 2:13 PM

A man identified as a close aide of former Sri Lankan terrorist leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was arrested with a large stash of cyanide and communication devices by the Indian police in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
K. Krishnakumar was arrested with 75 cyanide capsules, 300 grams of cyanide, four Global Positioning System sets and seven mobile phones at coastal Uchipulli when he tried to enter Sri Lanka illegally, Indian media reported.
The seizure of the cyanide has given speculation that the terrorist group, defeated by the Sri Lankan military in 2009, may be trying to regroup after three decades of warfare.
Each member of the Tamil Tigers, including child soldiers, were required to wear a cyanide capsule on a thread around their necks during the country's war years.
Hundreds of rebels have killed themselves in losing battles and upon capture by biting into the lethal poisonous pill that kills within minutes.
The police said that Krishnakumar had fled Sri Lanka soon after Prabhakaran was killed by the Lankan military in 2009 in a final bloody battle.
The 39 year old former terrorist and two others were arrested during a routine vehicle check in Uchipuli. The three men were being interrogated by the Indian police. The Indian police have also alerted all coastal districts in Tamil Nadu to monitor movements of former Tamil Tiger members.
South India, particularly Tamil Nadu, has been a safe haven for the Tamil Tigers despite India's central government banning the terrorist group in 1992 after a female suicide bomber assassinated India's then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
South Indian politicians have openly supported and harboured members of the terrorist group, and India has trained the Tigers during their crucial early years during the premiership of Indira Gandhi, the mother of the slain Rajiv Gandhi.
The Sri Lankan military refused to comment saying that this was a matter "to be handled by the police". "Sri Lanka a non-military controlled country now, so this does not concern us," said Military spokesman Brigadier K. J. Jayaweera.
Meanwhile, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa under whose 10-year regime the military quashed the Tamil Tigers, recently said that he feared that the Tamil Tigers could "regroup and revive terrorism in the country."
Under Prabhakaran's leadership the Tamil Tigers were responsible for introducing thousands of military and civillian deaths of both Sinhalese and Tamils in the country.
Fighting for a separate independent state in the tiny island, they were defeated by the military under Rajapaksa's reign.
news@khaleejtimes.com


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