Intel agencies on high alert ahead of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day

CHENNAI: Central intelligence agencies have issued warnings against the possibility of former cadres of the now-defunct LTTE trying to regroup and carry out attacks during the Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day on May 18, sources in the Tamil Nadu Home Department said.

The Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day is marked annually by the Sri Lankan Tamils on May 18, the date on which the over 25-year-old Civil War in the island nation ended in 2009.

With Sri Lanka undergoing the worst-ever economic crisis since it gained independence in 1948 as well as the recent violence that erupted in the island nation, the possibility of certain Tamil groups, including the former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres, regrouping and planning attacks is worrying the Indian intelligence agencies, the sources told IANS.

The Tamil Nadu Police have given directives to all the district Superintendents of Police, especially in the coastal areas, to be on alert about the possibility of an influx of the former cadres into the state.

In the wake of the economic crisis, more than 70 people from Sri Lanka have reached Tamil Nadu after being dropped at Dhanushkodi and Rameswaram by fishing boats at a huge price.

These people are currently being lodged at the Mandapam refugee camp in Rameswaram after the Tamil Nadu government's decision to not send them to jail.

The Tamil Nadu Coastal police and Indian Coast Guard have also alerted fishing boats from Tamil Nadu to be vigilant on any movement from Sri Lanka crossing the International Marine Boundary Line (IMBL) and to report on any suspicious movements.

Former LTTE intelligence operative Satkunam was apprehended last year after he was charged with smuggling narcotic drugs and collecting funds for regrouping the militant group in India.

A woman who was boarding a flight to Mumbai from Chennai was also arrested by Tamil Nadu Police after she was found trying to retrieve a dormant bank account connected to the LTTE.

The Central intelligence agencies have also warned that certain sections of the global Tamil diaspora are supporting the cause of Tamil nationalism and with Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa family on the defensive, the possibility of some unorganised attacks on the island nation is high, the Home Department sources added.