By Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka
Four suspected senior leaders of the Tamil Tigers have been arrested in a series of raids carried out by Malaysian officials in Kuala Lumpur and across Selangor state, the Malaysian daily The Star has reported.
A large number of forged passports and official seals of the Malaysian Immigration Department and other countries were also seized during the raids, officials said.
One of those arrested is suspected of having been involved in an attempt to assassinate the former Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1999, while another is suspected of being a bomb expert holding a UNHCR refugee card.
The third man was suspected of being an accomplice in an earlier thwarted attack in India and the fourth suspected of organizing the collection and dissemination of information among the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam network.
"We are finding it problematic that, among 14 LTTE members arrested this year, seven were using UNHCR cards," Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement.
The suspected senior combatants were apprehended by the Bukit Aman Special branch Counter Terrorism Division, officials said.
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