RCMP Raids Toronto Tamil Offices

Toronto Star ^ | April 23, 2006 | Surya Bhattacharya and Michelle Shephard

[NorthOf45]

RCMP raids Toronto Tamil offices Tigers outlawed as a terrorist group

Toronto Star Surya Bhattacharya and Michelle Shephard April 23, 2006

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers raided the Scarborough and Toronto offices of the World Tamil Movement yesterday, sealing off the building with yellow police tape and carting off boxes of documents.

Police hit offices at 39 Consentino Dr. in Scarborough, and later yesterday the community Tamil radio station reported a similar raid on the Toronto office on Eaton Ave., near Wellesley and Parliament Sts. in downtown Toronto. The World Tamil Movement maintains a third office here at 1231 Ellesmere Rd. in Scarborough, but it's not known if police searched it.

The raids come after Canada outlawed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — popularly known as the Tamil Tigers — earlier this month and formally listed them as a terrorist group.

The World Tamil Movement has often been called a front for the Tamil Tigers.

A call to the World Tamil Movement office was answered by an RCMP officer, directing the Star to the police force's Toronto spokesperson. But the RCMP's spokesperson, Michele Paradis, said she was unable to comment on the case and that the search warrant for the WTM office remained sealed.

A movement spokesperson had no comment on the latest developments.

"I have nothing to say at this stage but I will comment in a few days," said Sinnathamby Sittampalam, the 72-year-old president of Toronto's World Tamil Movement.

Sittampalam said he doesn't belong to the LTTE, but to assist Tamil people, he added, he "cannot help but support the LTTE, because LTTE is the one fighting for this struggle."

The United States has banned the WTM, denouncing it as a front for the LTTE. But Sittampalam said he had no ties to Sri Lanka, instead raising money for local Tamil interests.

Just two days after the Conservative government listed the LTTE as a terrorist organization, a Montreal-based RCMP anti-terrorism team assisted by local police raided Montreal's WTM office for more than 12 hours. The police said they were investigating offences related to financing terrorist activity.

Meanwhile in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers have refused to continue with peace talks in Geneva, planned for April 24-25, raising concerns about the country sliding back into a civil war.

[NorthOf45]

Thank you PM Steven Harper for doing what a real leader would do.

[NorthOf45]

This isn't the first office either ...

Canadian Mounted Police raid World Tamil Movement office in Montreal

Asiantribune.com
April 16, 2006

Following the listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government on April 2006 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided the office of World Tamil Movement in Montreal. Forty Police officers swooped down on April 12 in the first raid on the World Tamil Movement which was protected by the previous Liberal government.

The local Police from Montreal too joined in the raid. Jointly they seized computers, files and other documents. LTTE flags and other political material were also seized by the Police.

No one was arrested. However, other LTTE offices too are expected to be raided soon.

The raid has had an immediate impact on the Tamil community. For the first time Senthamarai, a Tamil weekly published from Toronto, carried the news of the raid on the WTM office in Montreal. Another weekly free paper Uthayan wrote an editorial asking: “Who is genuine?” It raised the issue of the loyalty of Tamils in Canada.

Another sources told the Asian Tribune that LTTE literature, magazines, CDs which were displayed all these years so prominently on the shelves of the Tamil shops in Toronto have suddenly disappeared. Even the photographs of the LTTE leader Prabhakaran which used to be displayed prominently in the Tamil shops have suddenly disappeared.

According to another source, Tamil radio stations in Toronto have cancelled the talk-back programs where the Canadian LTTE stalwarts and the propagandists use to participate.

A Canadian Tamil journalist said that suddenly everything has changed in Canada and many of the former LTTErs who earlier were proud to declare themselves as Tigers are distancing themselves from the movement.

Tamil Canadians who were quite confident that their bloc votes would keep the LTTE in business are no longer sure of their electoral clout. They had donated substantial funds to the Liberal Party -- and some have even donated funds to the Conservatives. They had lobbied MPs, bureaucrats and key bureaucrats hoping to save the LTTE from the ignominy of a ban. But all their efforts failed.

Political observers believe that this is a big blow to the image of the LTTE world wide. It is an equally stunning blow to the LTTE agents in Canada. Of all the Western countries LTTE had the biggest voting bloc and the most formidable lobby in Canada. "This confirms that the LTTE clout is waning in the West and they can no longer fool the international community with their propaganda of being "freedom fighters". The West has sympathy for "freedom fighters" but not for terrorists," said leading political commentator.

[NorthOf45]

Ping

[MARKUSPRIME]

Sound like you all got a good man in charge. The europeans would call him a cowboy.We call people like him a strong leader.

[NorthOf45]

Yes, we do have a good man in charge. He's been making some good moves. It's about time Canada got a real leader.

[Clive]

-

[denydenydeny]

Now if they can just stop funding the UNRWA and its Hamas staff.

[Don W]

SMALL steps, my FRiend.

One must walk before one can run.

We're recovering from 12 YEARS of completely unfettered LiEberal malfeasance here, on top of 8 years of red toryism, fronted by 18 years of prior LiEberal mismanagement with 18 months of red toryism in the middle of that.

It's a bit of a struggle, but we're working on it ;-)

[fanfan]

[mkjessup]

Thank you PM Steven Harper for doing what a real leader would do.

Amen to that!

The Liberals thought the Tamil Tigers were just a new team in the CFL.