THERE is a bid to revive the now defunct Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.

Police needed to strike pre-emptively, said the Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division (E8) principal assistant director today, while confirming that a group of local supporters have set up branches nationwide.

“There is a new wave to get the group going. They are trying to reactivate the movement. They even have set up branches nationwide. This is a serious matter. We moved because we saw that there are serious elements to revive the group,” said Ayob.

“If we don’t make a move now, we might be seeing something else happening although so far the group is just promoting and supporting the LTTE’s causes but let’s not forget the incident in 2016 where a Sri Lankan high commissioner was attacked at the airport.”

Ayob said police have been monitoring the LTTE movement in the country since the early 1990s.

“We have been monitoring them since 1990. In the 1990s we managed to stop a ship carrying weapons at a port in Penang that were destined for Sri Lanka. It was for the rebels.

“We have tracked money transactions since 1980s. We know the money goes to Europe before going into Sri Lanka and we also know money comes from Sri Lanka and goes into our country.

“We have also made arrests in 2009 involving several members from LTTE. We do not simply make arrest. We arrest those with solid evidence.”

At the Bukit Aman police headquarters today, Ayob disclosed the arrest of five menv yesterday over links to LTTE.

The five were detained on suspicion of promoting, supporting and channelling funds to the defunct terror group.

This brings to 12 the total number of those arrested in the LTTE probe in recent days. – October 13, 2019.