SUSPECTED LTTE MAN HELD FROM INDIA-NEPAL BORDER

Amitava Banerjee, HT, Kolkata, 15 Aug 2015 : With security beefed up before August 15, the Darjeeling Police apprehended a suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) operative along with his driver from Nepal and two Indians from Panitanki on Friday.

“Security has been beefed up with surprise checks being conducted in all transit locations and major thoroughfares of the district. Checks and raids are also being conducted in hotels. Suspicious persons are being questioned.

A team led by Circle Inspector Naxalbari apprehended four persons including a Sri Lankan without any passport or visa from Panitanki while trying to cross over into Nepal in a vehicle” stated Amit P Jagalvi, SP Darjeeling.

Jagdeepan Bilasingham (30) is suspected to be an LTTE operative. The vehicle was driven by Madan Adhikari (28) who is from Jhapa Nepal. Tershyam Singh hailing from Kangra, Himachal Pradesh and Protyush Roypatra of Koraput in Odisha were also detained.

Initially the Sri Lankan had stated that he was from Chennai. Later during interrogation it was revealed that he was from Sri Lanka.

Along with number of SIM cards, mobile phones, currencies of Sri Lanka, US, Hong Kong and Singapore dollars along with electronic devices like pen drives were recovered from their possession. “Investigations are on,” added the Darjeeling SP.

According to sources, central and state intelligence agencies interrogated them. It has been learnt that the LTTE operative was trying to flee to France. The LTTE has been banned by 30 countries, including the United States, Canada, India and the 27 member nations of the European Union.

The arrested will be produced at the Additional Chief Magistrate Court in SIliguri on Saturday.

The Sashashtra Seema Bal (SSB) which man the 100km long border with Nepal and Bhutan is also on high alert having beefed up patrolling along the highly porous border.

The geo-political location of this region with four international borders makes it highly vulnerable. In the past ISI operatives and Northeast militants have been held from this region.