Kerala on alert for LTTE cadres

The strife in Sri Lanka and the presence of Islamic terrorist groups in the Maldives have a bearing on Kerala’s security, official sources say.

Terrorsists in Sri Lanka are believed to be procuring fuel, chemicals such as ammonium nitrate (a fertilizer that could also be used for making bombs), medicines, vehicle parts, welding equipment, tools and metal balls (for possible use as projectiles in improvised explosive devices) and other articles from Kerala.

Official sources say the stuff, procured in bulk through certain business fronts, is ferried in fishing boats to uncleared areas in Sri Lanka.

The same sea routes are used for smuggling heroin (sourced from across India’s border) to Sri Lanka. So far, there is no evidence of Kerala’s coastline being used for arms smuggling.

Intelligence officials say there is the possibility of anti-Maldivian government elements, particularly operatives of Jamaat-ul-Muslimeen (a Maldives-based terrorist group) seeking refuge in Kerala or using its territory to plan operations against the island nation’s rulers.

Mooas Inas, a Maldivian national accused of triggering an explosive device in the island nation in September 2007, is suspected to have visited Thiruvananthapuram in 2005 before crossing over to Pakistan to meet leaders of a terrorist outfit.

In 2005, the police arrested and deported a 30-year-old Maldivian national, Ibrahim Asif, on the charge of attempting to procure arms and explosives from Kerala. The State police have stepped up their vigil along Kerala’s porous borders.

Migrant workers in plantation areas and urban centres are being verified.

Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said the police will verify people from other regions living in Kerala without intruding into their privacy.

The Hindu