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Photos
of a
former
Canadian
Tamil
student's
association
leader
handling
and
firing
guns at
a LTTE
camp
have
been
unsealed
by the
United
States
prosecutors
in
advance
of his
sentencing
on
terrorism
charges.
The
photos
show
Sathajhan
Sarachandran
who was
once
national
president
of the
Canadian
Tamil
students
association
holding
a
machine
gun and
aiming a
rifle
while
uniformed
LTTE
terrorists
look on,
says a
report
obtained
by the
National
Post.
RCMP
officers
found
the
pictures
during a
search
of
Sarachandran's
residence
in
Scarborough.
The
search
was
conducted
at the
request
of the
FBI
Joint
Terrorism
Task
Force,
which
was
investigating
his
involvement
in an
arms
smuggling
ring.
The
29-year-old
computer
science
student
has
since
pleaded
guilty
to
supporting
terrorism
and
conspiracy
to buy
surface-to-air
missiles
for the
LTTE. He
faces a
possible
life
term at
his
sentencing
on Oct.
6.
Another
Canadian,
Nadarasa
Yogarasa,
is also
scheduled
for
sentencing
that
day.
Sahilal
Sabaratnam,
the
former
communications
director
of the
Canadian
Tamil
Congress,
is to be
sentenced
on Nov.
13.
Three
more
Canadians
have
been
charged
and are
awaiting
extradition
to the
United
States
Documents
of the
federal
prosecutors
in
preparation
for the
sentencing
hearing
detail
the
results
of the
RCMP's
search
of
Sarachandran's
home for
the
first
time. In
one of
the
photos
seized
in
Toronto,
Sarachandran
is seen
aboard a
ship
that is
flying
the flag
of the
Sea
Tigers.
The
RCMP
search
also
turned
up LTTE
propaganda
and
documents,
a
desktop
computer,
laptop,
jump
drive
and a
letter
in which
Sarachandran,
alias "Satha,"
identified
himself
as the
Canadian
coordinator
of the
Tamil
Youth
Organization,
which
the
prosecutors
said was
controlled
by the
LTTE.
"During
the
search,
the RCMP
found
substantial
evidence
of
Satha's
provision
of
material
support
to the
LTTE,"
U.S.
Attorney
Benton
Campbell
wrote.
The
prosecutors
also
released
transcripts
of
several
recorded
conversations
in which
Sarachandran
appeared
to speak
candidly
about
the
LTTE's
support
network
in
Toronto.
"Money
is not a
problem,"
Sarachandran
said
during a
July 31,
2006,
meeting
in Long
Island,
N.Y.,
with an
informant
posing
as an
arms
dealer.
Later,
he
discussed
methods
used to
raise
money in
Canada.
"More or
less in
all the
shops
they
have a
percentage
system,"
he said.
"They
have
collected
a lot of
money
from a
lot of
people
in that
manner."
He
said
that in
Canada,
there
were
"covert
people"
unknown
to
intelligence
officials,
whom he
called
the
"four
letters,"
possibly
in
reference
to CSIS
or the
RCMP.
"The
four
letters
in our
country
is not a
problem;
four
letters
meaning
the
intelligence
people
don't
know
about
these
guys.
"These
are
covert
people
and not
the flag
holding
type.
They are
backstage.
They are
not
connected
to
anything
at all;
just
employed
in very
good
jobs or
professional
fields
like
electronics,
engineering,
etc...
"They
are
everywhere."
But
he said
there
had been
"problems"
since
April,
2006.
That was
the
month
the
Conservative
government
put the
LTTE on
Canada's
list of
outlawed
terrorist
organizations.
Also
that
month,
the RCMP
raided
the
Montreal
and
Toronto
branches
of the
World
Tamil
Movement,
a
suspected
LTTE
front.
"They
searched
the
premises
of the
organization,"
Sarachandran
said.
A
secret
Canadian
intelligence
report
released
in July
called
Canada
one of
the
LTTE's
top
sources
of
funding,
providing
up to
$12-million
a year.
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