Thursday, January 29, 2009

4 LTTE defendents plead guilty for trying to buy missiles

The US Department of fairness in a press let go said that four suspects of the release Tigers of Tamil Eelam pleaded culpable in the case they were emotional for attempting to buy outside to Air Missiles Missile launchers and hundreds of AK 47 rifles also made in US or Russia and wedged in a sting operation set by the FBI.
On Januray 27, when the Federal courthouse in Brooklyn was in the midst of the case to select the jury, defendants Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam and Sahilal Sabaratnam pled guilty to conspiring and attempting to provide fabric support to the release Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and conspiring and attempting to obtain guided anti-aircraft missiles. It was revealed during the investigations that they were particularly trying to buy them to down the MiG planes of the Sri Lanka Air Force.
On January 26, defendant Sathajhan Sarachandran pled guilty to as long as, conspiring to provide, and attempting to provide material support to the LTTE and conspiring and attempting to acquire guided anti-aircraft missiles, and Yogarasa Nadarasa pled guilty to attempting to provide material hold up to the LTTE and conspiring to do so. The guilty plea events were held previous to Chief United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie.
When sentenced, Thanigasalam, Sabaratnam, and Sarachandran face a statutory sentence of 25 years to life care and a sentencing teaching range of life. Nadarasa faces a statutory sentence and guideline range of up to 30 years of custody, the Depart ment Justice press let go said.
It further said, "On August 19, 2006, the four defendants were arrested on Long Island after three of them engaged in talks with an in secret FBI agent to purchase and export ten SA-18 heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles and launchers, 500 AK-47s, and other military gear for the LTTE. The defendants were acting at the way of senior LTTE leadership in Sri Lanka, counting Pottu Amman, the LTTE's chief of intelligence and procurement and the right-hand man to LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakharan. The weapons were to be used by the LTTE to shoot down Kfir airplane used by the Sri Lankan military.
"The LTTE was founded in 1976 and uses illegal methods to raise money, obtain weapons and skill, and make public its cause of establishing an self-governing Tamil state in northern Sri Lanka.
The LTTE began by terror plans against the Sri Lankan citizens since 1975, and utilizes a guerrilla plan that often includes acts of terrorism. Over the past 17 years, the LTTE has conducted about 200 suicide bombings, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of wounded, and approved out numerous political assassinations, counting the May 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the 1993 assassination of the President of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa, the July 1999 assassination of Neelan Thiruchelvam, a member of the Sri Lankan parliament, the June 2000 assassination of C.V. Goonaratne, the Sri Lankan Industry Minister, the August 2006 assassination of the Sri Lankan government's peace secretariat, Ketheshwaran Loganathan, the January 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Minister for Nation Building, D.M. Dassanayake, and the April 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Highways Minister, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. Beginning in 2002, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government operated under a weak cease-fire accord, but that agreement has essentially ended, and since April 2006, thousands of people have been killed in the rising conflict, counting over 300 civilians.
"In 1997, the LTTE was designated by the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Terrorist association and therefore may not lawfully raise money or procure gear or materials in the United States.
"For nearly two decades the LTTE has waged its war of terror at home and abroad, making suicide bombings its brand," stated United States legal representative Campbell. "With these convictions we have sent a clear message that the LTTE and its supporters cannot use the United States as a source of supply for deadly weapons and skill, and that all terrorists who effort to do so will be met with the full capital of law enforcement."
Mr. Campbell added that this successful trial is the result of a synchronized international effort by law enforcement led by the Newark Division of the central Bureau of study's Joint Terrorism Task Force, with assistance provided by more than 20 of the FBI's Field Offices, counting New York City, New Haven, Buffalo, Seattle, Baltimore, Chicago, and San Jose; the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the U.S. Department of State; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police National Security Program; and British law enforcement establishment.
The government's case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Greg D. Andres, Marshall L. Miller, Andrew E. Goldsmith, and Jeffrey H. Knox.
The Defendants: SATHAJHAN SARACHANDRAN, also known as "Satha" ,Age: 29,SAHILAL SABARATNAM, also known as "Sahil" Age: 29, THIRUTHANIKAN THANIGASALAM, also known as "Thani" Age: 40, and NADARASA YOGARASA, also known as "Yoga" Age: 54.

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