New LTTE leader KP arrested |
The LTTE last month announced that Kumaran Pathmanathan, will lead the struggle for Eelam now that its supreme leader V Prabhakaran has died in action without realizing his dream. The LTTE executive committee has said KP, who was made head of the international division by Prabhakaran,”will lead us into the next stage of our freedom struggle”. |
The new self appointed LTTE leader and chief arms dealer Kumaran Pathmanathan also known as KP, who was wanted by INTERPOL, has been arrested, Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona told Daily Mirror online.| KP being questioned in Colombo |
Meanwhile respected columnist D.B.S Jeyaraj, in a posting on his blog site said that according to informed sources KP was staying in Kuala Lumpur(KL) , Malaysia when taken into custody. Pathmanathan had met with two visitors from London, England at a hotel room in KL in the afternoon of August 5th. He had received a call on his cellular phone. KP had then signaled to his visitors that he was going out to the corridor and walked away while conversing on the phone. He had not returned for a long time and the when the worried visitors from Britain went out in search there was no sign of the new global tiger chief. Meanwhile the friend who had been talking to KP on the phone had heard a sudden thud and some noise while chatting. The phone went dead and repeated calls were not successful. The friend then alerted some assistants of KP in Malaysia who went in search of KP to the place where he was staying in KL. The place was empty but KP’s insulin and syringes and other medical stuff was still there. The visitors from London also got alarmed and contacted circles close to KP. Meanwhile KP seized in Malaysia was taken to Bangkok in Thailand. Sri Lankan authorities were contacted and a team from the Police Terrorist Investigation Department flew to Bangkok in the early hours of Thurasday August 6th. The team returned with Pathmanathan alias KP on a special flight on the same day. KP was handcuffed and had a mask covering his head and face when disembarking from the plane at Katunayake Airport. He was whisked away in a vehicle with tinted glasses to a high-security , secret location run by the terrorism investigation dept personnel. KP is to be interrogated intensively by Sri Lankan anti-terrorist sleuths. It is widely believed that the arrest was made possible through “inside information” supplied by some members of the LTTE abroad who were opposed to KP donning the tiger leadership mantle after the demise of supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. |
Kumaran Pathmanathan also known as KP is now being questioned in Colombo. The Hindustan Times today quotes MP Basil Rajapaksa as saying KP was flown down to Colombo following his arrest although details of how arrest was conducted was not revealed.
