Lanka concerned over Chinese-built LTTE arms

A deeply concerned Sri Lankan government is likely to draw China’s attention to a clandestine arms pipeline to the LTTE amidst growing evidence that the group has acquired a sizeable quantity of Chinese manufactured equipment.

The government is expected to seek China’s help to halt vital military supplies to the LTTE. Last week’s capture of an LTTE attack craft about six nautical miles east of the LTTE stronghold at Thalaiady highlighted the Chinese arms link.

The 16-metre vessel believed to be built at an Indonesian boatyard carried an assortment of Chinese manufactured arms including a 14.5 twin barrel anti-aircraft weapon capable of hitting targets at a range of about 2000 metres. This is the first of its kind recovered from the LTTE.

An authoritative government source said that the recovery was the largest single detection of Chinese made arms since Sri Lanka briefed Beijing about LTTE efforts to acquire arms, ammunition and equipment from China early this year.

The SLN seized the vessel after a confrontation Tuesday night off the Thalaiady coast. A Sea Tiger raid on Point Pedro waters triggered a six-hour battle which was repulsed by the SLN with the support of the army.


The army had brought devastating artillery and MBRLs (multi barrel rocket launchers) into play on a Sea Tiger flotilla, initially detected south of Point Pedro. This long range fire had an overwhelming impact on the flotilla before the SLN Fast Attack Craft (FAC) squadrons had swung into action.

Dismissing assertion that the SLN had captured an enemy craft disabled by the artillery fire, the SLN emphasized that there was undeniable evidence that it was first hit by P 412, a Fast Attack Craft (FAC) deployed along with three similar craft.

A 107 mm rocket fired from P 412 had damaged the enemy craft which had also been hit by 30 mm fire. It had capsized and two SLN personnel subsequently jumped into the water to secure a towline enabling the navy to tow the captured vessel to Kankesanthurai on Wednesday morning.

The SLN deployed four squadrons of FACs which ultimately overwhelmed the enemy, naval sources said. The SLN also found evidence that two Chinese built 12.7 mm guns had been mounted on the captured vessel on a previous occasion.

"We found two mounts and ammunition," an official said.

The captured LTTE attack craft (Indumathie) carried three 7.62 mm multi purpose machine guns and one sub machine guns - all of Chinese origin and the corresponding ammunition. The video footage of the battle showed that five enemy craft of similar type (categorized by the Sea Tigers as Wave Rider) were destroyed by FACs during the night battle.

The cutting edge of the SLN is its FAC squadrons primarily operating out of Trincomalee and Kankesanthurai.

The SLN filmed on video 16 craft similar to the one captured and towed to Kankesanthurai. The sources pointed out that all these craft may well have been armed with Chinese weapons.

These craft, just five metres shorter than the SLN’s 21 metre Israeli-built Dvoras, were equipped with Japanese JRC radar and four Japanese-built 250 horsepower outboard motors (OBMs), a US Gamin GPS (Global Positioning System) of Korean make and four communication sets for boat to boat and boat to land communication.

The communication sets are of both Chinese and Japanese makes. Although such communication equipment could have been easily accessed, the Tigers acquiring Japanese radar and powerful OBMs which had been built by Yamaha was of serious concern, highly placed government sources said.

The seizure of the vessel revealed the existence of a vast international LTTE procurement network with unlimited funds, security sources said.

"It was truly an international product," an official said while expressing concern over the absence of what he termed a mechanism to deny terrorist groups access to arms, ammunition and equipment. He estimated that each boat would have cost a sizeable amount.

Early this year the SLN captured an LTTE craft mounted with a single barrel 14.5 mm weapon. During a recent visit to Beijing by UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe Chinese officials said that they thoroughly investigated Sri Lanka’s claim that the LTTE had received Chinese built military hardware.

Wickremesinghe’s was confident that China would never act in a manner detrimental to Sri Lanka’s interests. Government sources said that they do not suspect China of arming the LTTE but the fact that Chinese armaments were seized from the LTTE could not be taken lightly.

"Maybe there’s a third party involvement," an official said.

Since September last year the SLN intercepted and destroyed four LTTE vessels carrying armaments on the deep seas, two of them on a single day.

(http://www.island.lk/2007/06/24/news1.html)