'The Pizza Tigers in Norway'

NORWAY: In Norway one of the country's largest credit card frauds is unfolding in the courts in Oslo. 5.3 million Norwegian kroner have been stolen with fake credit cards.

Norwegian LTTE sympathisers, their restaurants and strip joints are involved in the credit card scam. The 35 year Satrubarajah Shanmugarajah (RUBY) according to the police is the main man. He has pleaded guilty to several of the charges.

Ruby and his attorney Vidar Helgheim say Ruby is only the running boy. Other defendants are Sureswaran Thuraisingham, Kajamugan Parameswaran, Selvakumar Yoganathan, Theepakanth Aiyathurai and Sriranjan Sivananeswaran.

In Norway a total of 95 credit cards are involved. Earlier this year we have had arrested the same organised crime group, but the district attorney Trude Maren Buanes, choose not to mention this in her opening statement.

In Phuket LTTE cadre M. Pathmathas together with other LTTE cadres was arrested with 5000 cards and in Nairobi 72 cards were confiscated.

The LTTE has sent Balakumar Poluthurai to Nairobi (Norwegian passport) to commit the fraud. Balakumar Poluthurai has drawn attention to himself by using the same ATM for more than an hour.

Impatient customers in the long line behind him notified the Nairobi police. There are total of 16 defendants in the Norwegian case. Some of the defendants are well known figures in the Norwegian underworld. 32 witnesses will be called to testify in one of the largest credit card fraud cases in Norwegian history.

The court case is progressing slowly and the translation to Tamil language complicates and delays the case further.

In their testimony the restaurant owners are providing the most ridiculous explanations for the goods recieved for the credit card charges.

The owner of Nordisk Pizza in Hakkadal, Norway, said Shanamugarajah Ruby did order food and beverages for approximately 10.000 US dollar one evening. When Nordisk Pizza most expensive pizza cost 30 US dollars and the most expensive drink costs 12 US dollars, Shanamugarajah Ruby (and allegedly 15 friends) must have eaten 185 large pizzas, 149 pints of beer and more than 100 alcoholic drinks in a few hours if the owner of Nordisk Pizza was speaking the truth.

The District attorney believes money shifted hands and only a fraction of the food has actually entered the "Pizza Tigers" bellies.

What must puzzle the Judge, Ingmar Nestor Nilsen, is how the "Pizza Tigers" was able to survive this eating frenzy in Hakkadal? How can anyone be able to eat and drink so much without being sent to a hospital?

The restaurant owner of Little India, Suraswaran Thuraisingham, said he doubted the Shanmugarajah (RUBY) is the main man since he has the intelligence of a 15 year old.

He confirmed RUBY and his friends have paid his bills with credit cards. Even after American Express refused to pay a bill for 21.700 Norwegian kroner (USD 3200) to restaurant Little India, he allowed Ruby and his friends to use other credit cards.

According to Suraswaran Thuraisingham he believed another LTTE cadre "Rajan" could be involved in the credit card scam. Thuraisingham mentioned "Rajan," who is connected to the LTTE cells in Bremen and Sweden. Thuraisingham testimony contradicts Ruby's story where individuals connected to the LTTE in Great Britain is recipients of the funds from his frauds.

The district attorney Trude Maren Buanes says the defendants are a part of an organised crime. She says Ruby has made deals with restaurants, bars and strip joints to accept the credit cards.

Intelligence sources say the arrested in Norway is a part of the international LTTE credit card fraud network.

Previously we have seen arrests in Phuket, Hull, Bangkok, Nairobi, Canada and Singapore. All of the arrests are connected to the same LTTE criminal network. Several of the establishments where the credit cards are used have owners connected to the LTTE terrorist organisation.

Norway does not classify the LTTE as a terrorist organisation and thereby the terrorism paragraph does not apply for fundraising for the LTTE terrorism. The district attorney can only hope that the court view the crimes as part of organised crime. The verdict and sentencing is expected within one month.