Captain of Sun Sea has links to LTTE: report

Although Canadian authorities are concerned some of the recently arrived migrants might be members of the LTTE, a more forthcoming source has been the Malay Mail newspaper, which reported that the commander of the Sun Seais a man known as Capt. Vinod, who worked closely with the LTTE.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has said the Thai cargo ship was part of a “broader criminal enterprise” and a “test boat” intended to gauge Ottawa’s attitude toward refugees arriving by ship.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper echoed those words Tuesday by stating that Ottawa “will not hesitate to strengthen the laws” in order to tackle the “trend” of would-be refugees arriving via human-smuggling ships.

A more forthcoming source has been the Malay Mail newspaper, which reported this week that the commander of the Sun Sea is a man known as Capt. Vinod, who studied at the Malaysian Maritime Academyin Malacca during its early days.

While in Malaysia, Vinod stayed in close contact with local financiers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), or Tamil Tigers, Singapore-based terrorism expert Prof. Rohan Gunaratna told the newspaper.

He said Vinod had from the 1990s to 2009 worked with another Tamil Tiger cadre, Capt. Kamalraj Kandasamy, alias Capt. Kamal, to ship several tons of arms, ammunition and explosives from North Koreato Sri Lankafor the outlawed group to wage and sustain its terrorist campaign.

Gunaratna told the paper that Kamal skippered the first Tamil refugee ship, Ocean Lady, which arrived in Canadalast October.

He added that while Kamal captained Ocean Lady, Vinod stayed in Thailand to buy the Sun Sea from a Thai company, on behalf of LTTE, to take advantage of Canada’s weak response to the Ocean Lady.

Chitranganee Wagiswara, the Sri Lankan high commissioner in Ottawa, told Postmedia News last week that Vinod was the Sun Sea’s captain and a known Tamil Tiger involved in arms procurement, The Vancouver Sun reports.