LTTE extortion continues in UK

Front organisations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in London have started extorting funds for terrorist activities in Sri Lanka, not only from the British capital, but also from Tamil Nadu.

London based terrorist fund raisers were trying to extort money from the new mayor of Tirupur, a town of the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu located near Coimbatore, according to a complaint made to the Tamil Nadu police authorities.

Informed sources said the British Tamil Forum (BTF), successors to the British Tamil Association, then headed by A.C.Shanthan , the LTTE head who was earlier held by the Police under British anti-terrorist laws is responsible for much of the fundraising activities of the LTTE in Britain.

Many leaders of the BTF are well known LTTE activists in London.

They have started coming to the limelight by issuing statements to the press by requesting LTTE sympathisers to boycott Sri Lankan Airways with statements published in British newspapers like the Guardian.

Mayor K. Selvaraj of Tirupur told police investigators in India that the London based LTTE extortionists wanted him to give ten million rupees for what they called "Eelam cause."

Meanwhile Tamil sources in London said that the authorities have once again closed their eyes to the LTTE fund raising in the city, and the BTF linked people are forcing Tamils to pay o 100 each to the LTTE fund. The LTTE has also printed raffle tickets offering prizes, in London, as another method of fundraising.