The inside story of the LTTE 'regime'

Surrendered LTTE cadres are shaming the LTTE to its core. Latest wave of surrendees have revealed vast amounts of information and Diaspora contacts that were part of an elaborate money laundering and weapons smuggling racket.

A woman who once held a very high profile in the LTTE's political wing and her husband, an LTTE cultural unit head were among the surrendees. They had provided details regarding a particularly interesting tour to Europe.

The LTTE political wing, cultural wing and some of its military leadership had taken part in this 8-nation European tour which had included Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, UK, Germany etc. The LTTE 'delegation' had been instructed by its top leadership to use this as a cover to demand money from the Tamil Diaspora.

In a prior briefing given to the 'delegation', the LTTE leadership had explained to the delegation that their adherence to the Cease-Fire Agreement was a ploy and that they were buying time to rearm and reequip themselves for the final battle.

For this the Diaspora had to be convinced to donate their money. The main slogan was that the LTTE needed more money to buy more sophisticated weapons to counter those of the Sri Lankan military. Indeed some of these weapons had been procured, but where the rest of the money had gone was apparently not very clear to the 2nd and 3rd level leadership of the LTTE.

The weapons that were procured were impressive nevertheless for a small terrorist organization or any terrorist organization for that matter. One LTTE Fast Suicide Craft recovered recently and the surrendering of the Mastermind of the LTTE's boat manufacturing unit as well as the #2 of the boat engine unit has bared some incredible details.

The fast suicide craft had two 496 Horsepower engines made in the United States fixed to it. The suicide boat was capable of reaching 50 Knots, faster that the Navy's Super Dvora. The engines had been procured and the suicide boat manufacturing completed during the Cease-fire in 2004.

Among the junior LTTE surrendees were 52 forcibly recruited teenagers with their hair cropped. They had been taken by force from their families between mid 2008 and early 2009. Some had received only two days of training when the Army disrupted the LTTE training program allowing the children to escape.

A more senior LTTE cadre had revealed of a special training he had received from Israeli mercenaries during the cease-fire in 2004. The Israeli mercenaries had restructured the LTTE's Physical Training (PT) course as some of the exercises had been outdated and potentially damaging to the trainees, particularly to women and children. The team had also taught the tigers a few tactics.