This is the first charge of this nature in Canada, said RCMP Supt. Lloyde Plante of B.C.'s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET). Thambithurai was remanded in custody after his arrest. He will make his first court appearance Tuesday (18) in Vancouver Provincial Court .

Plante said the charges announced Monday were "not specifically" related to a police raid in 2005 at the Vancouver office of the World Tamil Movement (WTM), a group the RCMP alleges is a financing the LTTE.

Last September, The Vancouver Sun reported there were three investigations across Canada - in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal - to determine whether the terrorist Tamil Tigers had been illegally raising funds here to help their bloody independence campaign.

The 2005 search warrant allowed police in Vancouver to search the WTM for "invoices, bills and receipts, donation records, any correspondence relating to fundraising, disbursement and direction provided to anyone involved in the organization."