LTTE still running illegal operations overseas – Dinesh

Sri Lanka’s vanquished Tamil Tiger terrorist group still owns some ships and are using them in running illegal operations overseas, a senior Sri Lankan minister said on Thursday.

The Chief Government Whip and Water Supply and Drainage Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena told the parliament today that the LTTE still had at least eight vessels and these ships were now being used for illegal activities, including human trafficking.

The Minister revealed that these ships that escaped the government offensive were berthed in a port of a South East Asian country and reportedly some of them were beyond repairs.

Although the government eliminated the whole senior leadership of the LTTE and defeated the terrorist group in May 2009, its overseas network remained active, Minister Gunawardena said in parliament.

He said this in response to a question raised by the opposition on LTTE’s overseas assets and what the government was doing to recover them.

The Minister told parliament that intelligence authorities were taking necessary measures to recover the remaining ships.