Sensational seizures deepen anxieties

INDIA: The Coast Guard's interception and seizure in Indian waters, close to the Tamil Nadu coast, of a boat carrying deadly arms and ammunition, including a 7 kg suicide belt, has spotlighted the deadly terrorist menace the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam poses to India and chosen targets in Sri Lanka as well as India.

But even before Wednesday's sensational catch, a number of recent seizures by the police, the Navy, and the Coast Guard off the Tamil Nadu coast pointed to a resumption, on a significant scale, of smuggling of arms and raw materials by the LTTE.

Intelligence sources apprehend that these seizures may be only the tip of the iceberg, as two-way traffic across the Palk Strait has been going on uninterrupted for quite some time now.

"It is because of the unwitting seizure of the ball bearings by the police and the rocket shells by the Navy and Coast Guard that security along the coast and on the seas was strengthened," observed a senior intelligence official who was in Chennai recently to review the situation in Tamil Nadu.

"But the long coastline remains highly porous and it is obvious that several landing points in the Rameswaram-Tuticorin-Cuddalore stretch have been regularly used by the LTTE."

According to this source, the Intelligence Bureau has been constantly warning the Central and State Governments as well as the Tamil Nadu police about the ongoing activities of the LTTE and the elements who support the terrorist organisation in the State.

Madurai is suspected to be the gateway for moving supplies by road and then split it into smaller parcels for onward transit to the Sri Lankan coast in smaller vessels.

What has caused consternation here is the seizure of arms, ammunition and an unmistakeable suicide contraption, designed to be concealed under normal clothing from one of the boats headed for the Cuddalore coast, with the vessel featuring sophisticated equipment such as GPS and a satellite phone.

It was known that the LTTE was working hard to source from India some of the raw materials for the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) produced in its bases in the North and East of the island nation.

However, the discovery that some of this was being brought back to Indian shores is a new concern for the security agencies.

The rocket shells seized earlier off the Tamil Nadu coast were found to have the markings of a South East Asian country. The Indian security agencies believed this deadly cargo was coming from one of the LTTE's islet bases in the Bay of Bengal.

That investigation is still in progress but the latest series of seizures of ball bearings, scrap metals, metal bars, and so forth climaxing in the Coast Guard's towing of a suspected LTTE boat to Chennai on Wednesday provides a whole new dimension to the threat perception.

No direct connection has been established yet, but in the wake of the links established between earlier seizures at the Ambattur industrial estate, a Chennai suburb, and the banned Maoist group in Andhra Pradesh, security agencies are looking into possible connections between the Tigers and the naxalites.

Intelligence agencies believe that a pre-existing link has been activated by the Maoist elements, which have come under intense police heat in Andhra Pradesh.

Police sources attach significance to the operations that are now being uncovered, especially the role of landing stations such as Thangachimadam and Kodiakarai that are known to have close bonding with the LTTE.

This reminds some old-timers in the service of the 1989-91 operations of the Tigers in Tamil Nadu. They are clearly worried about the possible impact of this deadly traffic on India's coast.

While some police officers feel the LTTE, having learnt bitter lessons from its assassination of Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur in 1991, will not dare strike at any targets in Tamil Nadu, others have a less sanguine view.

In any case, the LTTE's suspected synergies with other extremist groups provide enough cause for concern.

The Hindu