Sri Lanka intercepts boat carrying LTTE propaganda
Sri Lankan authorities seized a container in Colombo containing separatist Tamil Tiger propaganda material bound for Canada, a police official said on Tuesday.
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Police were called in to investigate the consignment of 45 cartons of books supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was destined for Canada from the southern Indian port of Chennai via the Sri Lankan capital.
The LTTE, commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, want a separate state to be established in the north of Sri Lanka for the Tamil ethnic minority. Sri Lankan forces defeated the organisation militarily in 2009 following a civil war lasting 26 years.
They remain a proscribed group in Sri Lanka, India and many other states. However they enjoy widespread sympathy amongst Tamils in southern India, Sri Lanka and expatriate communities in the West.
Canada has an established Tamil community, as has Paris.
The Tigers have pledged to continue their campaign for an independent state for Tamil people on the island of Sri Lanka.
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