Full text of the news release issued by the U.S. Department of
Justice follows:
Leader of U.S. Arm of Sri Lankan Terrorist Group Arrested
for Providing Material Support to Terrorists
April 25, 2007
Arrest is the Latest in Ongoing Investigation of Terrorist
Group’s Reliance On Individuals in the United States as a Major
Source for Money, Arms, and Military Technology
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – A complaint was unsealed this morning in
U.S. District Court in Brooklyn charging a senior U.S.
representative of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or
Tamil Tigers), a
designated foreign terrorist organization since 1997, with
material support of a foreign terrorist organization. The
defendant, KARUNAKARAN KANDASAMY, also known as “Karuna,” was
arrested in Queens, New York, and is scheduled to have his
initial appearance this afternoon before United States
Magistrate Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto at the U.S. Courthouse, 225
Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York.. The charge in the
complaint is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed
innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Karuna
faces a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.
“As alleged in the complaint, for years the LTTE has covertly
operated within the United States drawing on America’s financial
resources and technological advances to further its
war of terror in Sri Lanka and elsewhere,” stated U.S.
Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf. “We refuse to allow this to
continue.” Ms. Mauskopf added that the investigation is
continuing.
Mark J. Mershon, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau
of Investigation, New York Field Office, stated, “Financial
backing, assistance with logistics, and other forms of material
support have a direct bearing on the viability of a terrorist
organization’s lethal objectives. Karuna hasn’t merely supported
the Tamil Tigers’ cause, he orchestrated U.S. support. We can no
sooner allow
terrorists to
raise funds here than we would allow them to carry out acts of
terrorism here.”
The government’s investigation was conducted by the New York
and Newark Divisions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s
Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF, with assistance provided by
more than 20 of the FBI’s Field Offices, including New Haven,
CT, Buffalo, NY, Seattle, WA, Baltimore, MD, Chicago, IL, San
Jose, CA, and Los Angeles, CA; the United States Attorney’s
Office for the District of Connecticut; U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE); the U.S. Department of State; and
several foreign governments.
The LTTE
According to the complaint, the LTTE was founded in 1976 and
relies
on terrorism, including suicide bombings and political
assassinations, to achieve its objective of establishing an
independent Tamil state in northern Sri Lanka. The group’s elite
Black Tiger squad has conducted hundreds of suicide attacks and
several assassinations, including the May 1991
assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
and the 1993 assassination of the President of Sri Lanka,
Ranasinghe Premadasa. The complaint charges that beginning in
2002, the LTTE and Sri Lankan government operated under a
tenuous cease-fire agreement. That agreement has
essentially ended, and more than 4,000 people have been
killed in the past 15 months in the escalating conflict.
Karuna’s Material Support
According to the complaint, the LTTE relies on sympathetic
Tamil expatriates residing in the United States, Canada, the
United Kingdom, Australia, France, and several other countries
to raise and launder money; smuggle arms, explosives, equipment,
and technology into LTTE-controlled territory; obtain
intelligence about the Sri Lankan government; and spread
propaganda. To coordinate these activities, the LTTE has
established “branches” in at least 12 countries, including the
United States.
The complaint alleges that Karuna is the director of the
American branch of the LTTE, which is located in Queens, New
York, and operates through a front organization called the World
Tamil Coordinating Committee (the “WTCC”). Karuna oversees and
directs the LTTE’s activities in the United States, including
fundraising. In the summer and fall of 2004, for example, the
LTTE allegedly undertook a major worldwide campaign to raise
money for its planned offensive against the Sri Lankan
government in late 2005. In support of this planned offensive,
Karuna held fundraising events in November and December 2004 at
a church and a public high school in Queens, New York, and a
school in South Brunswick, New Jersey. Hundreds attended.
According to the complaint, Karuna also was responsible for
arranging meetings in LTTE-controlled territory in Sri Lanka
between LTTE leaders and prominent LTTE supporters from the
United States. These supporters typically have backgrounds in
engineering, technology, weaponry, medicine, and other
scientific fields. Karuna and his subordinates also assisted
LTTE intelligence agents in researching military technology.
Related LTTE Prosecutions in the Eastern District of New
York
Eleven defendants were previously indicted in the Eastern
District of New York on charges relating to the material support
of the LTTE. One indictment, United States v. Sathajhan
Sarachandran, et al., charges five individuals with attempting
to purchase several dozen surface-to-air missiles and other
military arms and equipment from an undercover FBI agent in
Queens, New York. The second indictment, United States
v.Thavarajah Pratheepan et al., charges the defendants with
participating a wide-ranging conspiracy to provide material
support to the LTTE through the procurement of military arms and
technology, attempting to bribe purported U.S. State Department
officials to remove the LTTE from the foreign terrorist
organization list and to sell classified intelligence concerning
the LTTE, fundraising, and the LTTE’s covert payment of a U.S.
Congressman’s trip to LTTE-controlled territory.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United
States Attorneys Jeffrey Knox, Robert M. Radick, and Gurbir
Grewal.
