US busts LTTE’s Asian weapons network
Plot to buy and transfer arms to Tigers bared:
US: US authorities said they had busted an arms-trafficking
gang, arresting six Asians who had been trying to smuggle weapons from
the United States to the LTTE.
Singaporean Haniffa Bin Osman, 55, was the latest person to plead
guilty in the investigation, which saw undercover agents track the
alleged arms dealers from the eastern port of Baltimore to the South
Pacific US territory of Guam.
“The disruption of the supply chain of this organisation should
reassure the public that the US Government is committed to dismantling
terrorist groups worldwide,” FBI special agent William Chase said
yesterday.
Osman and four Indonesians have now pleaded guilty to charges
stemming from the investigation, from conspiracy to support a terrorist
organisation to attempting to illegally export arms. They all face
significant jail terms.
A sixth suspect, Sri Lankan Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa, goes on
trial next month on charges of conspiracy, attempting to export arms,
money laundering, and illegal possession of weapons.
“Keeping sophisticated US weapons from falling into the hands of
terrorists has never been more important,” said James Dinkins, Special
Agent for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore.
“This three-year undercover investigation ... highlights the reach
and impact of international arms trafficking.”
US attorney Rod Rosenstein said Osman had pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist
organisation and to money laundering.
In a statement, the Justice Department alleged that Osman conspired
with two Indonesians to buy 53 military weapons, including sniper
rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers as well as ammunition and
night-vision devices for the Tigers.
They contacted an undercover business in Maryland to request a price
list and negotiate a deal.
As the sting operation unfolded, Osman met in July with undercover
FBI agents in Baltimore to discuss transferring the arms to Sri Lanka.
He even provided coordinates for delivering the weapons in the Indian
Ocean.
He asked about the cost of unmanned aerial vehicles, and test-fired
several weapons including machine guns and sniper rifles.
Osman told the agents that if the first order, for some 900,000
dollars worth of supplies, went smoothly a second one worth 15 million
dollars could follow, according to a Justice Department statement.
In August some 250,000 dollars was wired from a Malaysian bank to an
undercover US bank account as a down payment for the weapons’ purchase.
Osman then travelled to Guam to inspect the weapons including two
surface-to-air missiles, and a second down payment of 452,000 dollars
was made.
Osman was joined in Guam by retired Indonesian general Erick Wotulo,
60, and they both met with undercover agents to discuss shipping the
weapons to Sri Lanka. They were both arrested in September in Guam.
“We will use all available legal tools to prevent terrorism,
including undercover operations targeting people who attempt to obtain
military weapons in violation of American law,” added Rosenstein.
The other Indonesians charged in the case are Haji Subandi, 70;
Reinhard Rusli, 34; and Helmi Soedirdja, 33. They along with Wotulo are
to be sentenced in the coming months. Osman will be sentenced in June.
They could face multiple sentences of 10 to 20 years in prison.
The LTTE has been blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the
United States since 1997.
AFP |
