Tiger trio raised A$ 2m for suicide terror

Natasha ROBINSON

AUSTRALIA: Three men on terror charges have been accused of collecting $1.9 million in charitable donations from Australia’s expat Tamil community and using a chunk of the funds to buy electronic and marine equipment similar to that used in suicide bombings.

Melbourne Magistrates Court was told yesterday that Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, 33, Sivarajah Yathavan, 36, and Arumugam Rajeevan, 41, formed the Australian arm of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as the Tigers.

Commonwealth Prosecutor Mark Dean SC said the men were in constant contact with central LTTE command in northern Sri Lanka and formed part of an internationally organised network that provided $ 50 million a year for the terror group.

Dean told the court that $ 1.9 million was deposited into the bank account of an Australian group called the Tamil Coordinating Committee, which was the “vehicle” for LTTE money collections in Australia.

The court heard that a large portion of the funds was collected after the December 2004 tsunami and that $1.25 million was withdrawn from the account in cash.

International fund transfers were made to the LTTE via Malaysia, Mr Dean said, and deposits were made in amounts of less than $10,000 each time to avoid automatically triggering the attention of authorities through the Austrac reporting database.

The committal hearing - which is due to hear evidence from commanders of the Sri Lankan Army and Navy - was told that one of the accused men, Vinayagamoorthy, purchased electronic transmitters in Australia that could be used to construct remote control devices capable of detonating bombs.

Vinayagamoorthy bought almost $100,000 worth of electronic parts from suppliers in Launceston and Rockhampton between 2003 and 2005 and sent the parts to Sri Lanka via a courier, the court heard.

The transmitters and receivers were the same brand as that used in Claymore mines remotely detonated by the LTTE, said Dean, who also told magistrate Peter Reardon that Claymore mine explosions had killed 258 military personnel, police and civilians in Sri Lanka between December 2005 and September last year.

The three accused men are charged with membership of a terrorist organisation, making funds available to a terrorist organisation, and sending money collected in Australia to a proscribed entity.

Vinayagamoorthy and Yathavan are also charged with intentionally providing support or resources to a terrorist organisation, and Mr Vinayagamoorthy faces one additional charge of making available boat design software and radio transmitters to a proscribed entity.

Dean said the three had met the LTTE’s top leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, who has two outstanding Interpol arrest warrants for murder and terrorist acts. He said police had seized video footage showing Yathavan firing an LTTE machinegun on board a gunboat and Mr Rajeevan raising the LTTE flag.

However, defence lawyer Rob Stary said the Interpol warrants had been issued in 1994 and had not been acted on by any nation’s police force. The committal hearing continues today.

News.com.au