Singaporean arrested for supplying arms to Tamil Tigers
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - US authorities said Thursday they had busted an arms-trafficking gang, arresting six Asians who had been trying to smuggle weapons from the United States to Tamil Tiger rebels.
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Singapore man 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 organization should reassure the public that the US government is committed to dismantling terrorist groups worldwide," said FBI special agent William Chase.
Four Indonesians and Osman have now pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the investigation, from conspiracy to support a terrorist organization to attempting to illegally export arms. They all face significant jail terms.
A sixth person, 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."
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are fighting for independence in Sri Lanka's northern and eastern regions. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 1972.
The rebels have been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the United States since 1997.
US attorney Rod Rosenstein said Osman had pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization 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 Tamil 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 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 all to be sentenced in the coming months. Osman will be sentenced in June.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070405/tts-us-attacks-singapore-3c8ed92.html -
Singaporeans have so much to be proud of.
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Another one. Singaporeans seem to be very 'in' to arms trading.
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I was watching documentary abut how LTTE raises funds - they threaten Tamils living overseas (in the documentary it was UK), like the way mafia do, to give large contributions. They may be the only non-islamic group to use suicide bombers, leading many countries to label them as terrorists instead of separatists. So many have died in this conflict (including former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi), anyone involved in supplying arms to them has blood on their hands.
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tamil tigers are not terrorist
they are freedom fighter -
I beg the different.Originally posted by allentyb:tamil tigers are not terrorist
they are freedom fighter -
If they engage in attacks against civilians and coerce overseas Tamils, they are terroists.
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let me explain why. There was peace monitoring and they have a chance to resolve thru political means and they violet the truce.Originally posted by allentyb:tamil tigers are not terrorist
they are freedom fighter
Political movement such as PLO led by Yasar Arafat as much as he accumulated all the wealth but he was not a leader that sort for political solution for its people and states building but resort to power struggle and maybe after a while they forgot why they were there just struggle for the idea of freedom. -
Originally posted by Arapahoe:let me explain why. There was peace monitoring and they have a chance to resolve thru political means and they violet the truce.
Political movement such as PLO led by Yasar Arafat as much as he accumulated all the wealth but he was not a leader that sort for political solution for its people and states building but resort to power struggle and maybe after a while they forgot why they were there just struggle for the idea of freedom.
i don't feel like arguing at all, and you have state your reason, and i respect that, whether its their own civil war, and now i still think of them as freedom fighter, tho, you may have broken the truce,(but most truce, are always broken)and they want to proclaim an independence state -
Originally posted by allentyb:
i don't feel like arguing at all, and you have state your reason, and i respect that, whether its their own civil war, and now i still think of them as freedom fighter, tho, you may have broken the truce,(but most truce, are always broken)and they want to proclaim an independence state -
my brain is feeling very dry, words can't come out of my mouth and i don't feel like digging up information to back up my statementOriginally posted by LazerLordz:
i am trying to be nice, you know! -
Singapore now joins the ranks of those nations promoting terrorism...Originally posted by ditzy:Singaporeans have so much to be proud of.
... is what a layperson, who may not know any better, might conclude after a cursory glance at that news report.
Warranted or not, Singapore almost always seems to be making the international news in less-than-flattering ways. -
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That Singapore arms trafficker got a Muslim name. Is he Tamil Muslim? Why is a Tamil Muslim supporting the LTTE when they are targetted for Ethnic Clensing by trhe Tamil Tigers?
How come got Indonesians also in this syndicate?Payment money from malaysian bank ......
Maybe the arms are meant for Indonesian terror groups, but Tamil Tigers got blamed.
I THINK THIS IS JI TERROR GROUP........FBI kenna conned by apparent "confession".........pui...... -
You are most welcome to voice opinion but seriously. i have no idea why there is a need to argue in this forum. is one thing to voice different of opinion its another to disagree in any case I am not looking to be "Right" see the 6 days war. I only wrote my perspective and some one is trying to do a point by point rebuke. da......!Originally posted by allentyb:
i don't feel like arguing at all, and you have state your reason, and i respect that, whether its their own civil war, and now i still think of them as freedom fighter, tho, you may have broken the truce,(but most truce, are always broken)and they want to proclaim an independence state -
If there's money to be made, I don't think it really matters who your clients are.Originally posted by Dr Who:That Singapore arms trafficker got a Muslim name. Is he Tamil Muslim? Why is a Tamil Muslim supporting the LTTE when they are targetted for Ethnic Clensing by trhe Tamil Tigers? -
whether is it freedom fighter or terrorists... we muz accept tt we muz be careful in our daily life.. cos any thing detrimental can happen to us..
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Well actually they are freedom fighters, cuz last time tamils in sri lanka was quite well off compared to majority of the sri lankan due to jealousy they were treated badly like second class citizen somemore the sri lankan government refuse to gib them citizenship. ( last time tamils was imported from india by the british to work on tea plantations and stuffs althought they helped out alot in the sri lankan economy they was not exactly welcome, think of it like chinese from china come to singapore type of senario) Then theyprotest and guess wat the sri lankan ppl (mostly sinhalese) attacked the peaceful tamils that is protesting and looted their shops and killed them by hundreds while the sri lankan army did nothing but just watch the tamils die. Thats why the angered tamils form the tamil tiger and fight to protect their own race from being treated like dirt.
News will never tell u how the sri lankan army and ppl treated the tamils they only say tamil tiger violent but at the end of the day who was the one who started this war? -
Another famous Singaporean expat is the leader of the "M16 gang" in MY. Anyone knows what's happened to him? He was a former combat engineer.Originally posted by ditzy:Singaporeans have so much to be proud of.
Of course, then there's Anabelle Chong. -
Majority of Sri Lankan are Sihanlese while Tamil are minority....Originally posted by X-Cliff:Well actually they are freedom fighters, cuz last time tamils in sri lanka was quite well off compared to majority of the sri lankan due to jealousy they were treated badly like second class citizen somemore the sri lankan government refuse to gib them citizenship. ( last time tamils was imported from india by the british to work on tea plantations and stuffs althought they helped out alot in the sri lankan economy they was not exactly welcome, think of it like chinese from china come to singapore type of senario) Then theyprotest and guess wat the sri lankan ppl (mostly sinhalese) attacked the peaceful tamils that is protesting and looted their shops and killed them by hundreds while the sri lankan army did nothing but just watch the tamils die. Thats why the angered tamils form the tamil tiger and fight to protect their own race from being treated like dirt.
News will never tell u how the sri lankan army and ppl treated the tamils they only say tamil tiger violent but at the end of the day who was the one who started this war?
What I know why these Tamil Tiger is formed becos majority sihanlese who formed Sri Lankan government marginise these Tamil,carry out enthic cleansing much like what happen in Sudan of Dafur! The Tamil wanted to form their own government and prevent further harm of their own people...
Actually from the ferocity of the way these Tamil Tiger fought,I bet they must have suffer a lot of hardship and torture that force them to come to these state!
As for the Singaporean helping them,I think is out of sympathy(If the guy caught is really an Indian Tamil) as majority of Singapore Indian community belongs Tamil... -
The Tamil Tigers (as well as Spain's ETA and Nothern Ireland's IRA) may be considered terrorists from their choice of methods used, but they are more of freedom fighters. This stems from their operations being mostly local, and they seldom venture out of their operation areas unlike Al-Qaeda, which has many agents worldwide whose aims are to cause global mayhem.
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Let's see, is it a crime to fund an uprising against Robert Mugabe ah?Originally posted by iveco:The Tamil Tigers (as well as Spain's ETA and Nothern Ireland's IRA) may be considered terrorists from their choice of methods used, but they are more of freedom fighters. This stems from their operations being mostly local, and they seldom venture out of their operation areas unlike Al-Qaeda, which has many agents worldwide whose aims are to cause global mayhem. -
I too feel that LTTE, IRA are freedom fighters. its all just a matter of perspective.
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luckily this guy sell weapons to tamil tigers, not al-qaeda, if not US will say singapore government support terrorism, and we will know what will happen in the next few months.
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Another famous Singaporean expat is the leader of the "M16 gang" in MY. Anyone knows what's happened to him? He was a former combat engineer.
hes dead. killed by malaysian police D9.