K.N. Arun
India's Navy and Coast Guard have seized two caches of weapons and explosive-making material destined for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and detained five people, officials said yesterday.
Both hauls were made off the coast of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
In the biggest seizure on Monday, a Navy patrol recovered nearly three tons of material for making explosives from a small boat off the coast of Rameswaram, about 700 kilometers south of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, said Navy Cmdr. Philip van Haltern.
The material included hundreds of anodes, metal rings, rubber washers and metal nails - all of which are used to make the lethal roadside bombs and land mines favoured by the Tigers.
"We are convinced the consignment was meant for the LTTE," van Haltern said. Another suspected LTTE cache was found Tuesday aboard a boat intercepted near the town of Point Calimere, about 450 kilometers south of Chennai, said coast guard Cmdr. S.K. Panwar.
All five of the men detained were aboard the fiberglass boat, and three are suspected to be members of the Tigers, Panwar told the AP.
"We have seized one AK-47 assault rifle, 124 rounds of ammunition, huge quantities of hand grenades and detonators.
There were also eight barrels containing a white coloured chemical, which we suspect could be ammonia-based and usable in making explosives," he said.
AP
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