In the last three months, authorities in Tamil Nadu have taken into their possession equipment and vast quantities of materials that can be used to make bombs meant for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Officials monitoring the seizures say it is now clear that smuggling of the materials must have been going on for at least a year and that a large quantity may have slipped past the Indian coastline.

The latest find took place in Chennai Jan 24 when five Sri Lankan Tamil and three Indian men were taken into custody with two tonnes of iron ball bearings, following a strong lead from the Indian security establishment.

A day later three more tonnes were seized and another Indian was arrested. All the stuff had been bought in Mumbai. More... Discuss this story Published: Tue Jan 30 06:01:35 EST 2007

It was a sting that also netted a suspected international arms dealer and three men associated with the Tamil Tigers terrorist group.

Reinhard Rusli and Helmi Soedirdja, who also pleaded guilty to money laundering, represented one of two conspiracies that federal agents allege were being orchestrated by suspected international arms dealer Haji Subandi of Indonesia.

The pair tried to acquire monocular night vision and holographic weapons sight devices.

Sentencing has been set for April 27th.

In another conspiracy, Subandi allegedly made numerous requests to aquire weapons from the undercover agents between March 2004 and April 2006 on behalf of Tamil Tigers.

Subandi has been charged with Haniffa Bin Osman and Erick Wotulo. Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa, of Sri Lanka, also is charged with being part of the conspiracy.

They remain in federal custody, and a trial date has been set for May 14th in federal court in Baltimore. Discuss this story Published: Tue Jan 30 23:15:51 EST 2007