LTTE Leader Arrested

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Yesterday, Sri Lankan officials announced the arrest of the new leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), Kumaran Pathmanathan (also known as KP or Selvarasa Pathmanathan). This is a major blow to the organization, especially coming on the heels of the major battlefield defeat that it suffered in May.

Of special relevance is a profile of Pathmanathan that Rohan Gunaratna contributed to the Center for Terrorism Research's newly-released report Terrorism in the West 2008, which I co-authored. To read the entire report, click here. I have reprinted Dr. Gunaratna's profile in full below.

The New Leader of the LTTE

By Rohan Gunaratna

The LTTE has been militarily defeated, but it maintains a state of the art propaganda, fundraising, procurement, and shipping infrastructure overseas—particularly in the West. The LTTE has offices and cells in about 60 countries. About a million Sri Lankan Tamils live overseas, allowing the LTTE to establish a significant overseas presence. For a quarter century, the LTTE raised funds, procured supplies and transported them to Sri Lanka to support LTTE’s campaign of violence. The shadowy leader responsible for building that clandestine network, Kumaran Pathmanathan (also known as KP), was appointed as the new leader of the LTTE in May 2009.

KP was the principal facilitator and enabler that transformed the LTTE into one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist groups. Although KP is not a public figure, he is well known to international security and intelligence services in both the East and West. Wanted for crimes in several countries—including India, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka—KP is of security interest worldwide. Like Velupillai Prabhakaran in the past, KP will never be able to surface. To engage the services of a range of officials and specialists, KP bribed government officials and paid for other services. In the intelligence world, KP earned the same notoriety as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of al Qaeda’s 9/11 operation.

Who is KP?

Since the LTTE was a known terrorist group, KP operated under a dozen aliases. He also used multiple passports, including Sri Lankan, Indian, Swiss, Malaysian, and Egyptian. Since the early 1980s, KP operated from India (Madras and Bombay), Malaysia (Penang and Kuala Lumpur), and Thailand (Bangkok and Chiang Mai). He also visited the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East to procure weapons and dual-use technologies. As the LTTE is a well-known terrorist group, KP operated through three dozen LTTE front, cover, and sympathetic organizations.

KP’s Modus Operandi

Willing to take risks and work long hours, KP earned the trust of Prabhakaran and his family, as well as other LTTE leaders. When Prabhakaran married Madhivadhani in Madras, KP sat next to Prabhakaran. Initially LTTE chartered ships, but after the group was duped KP was entrusted with building LTTE’s own shipping fleet. KP appointed and supervised Sri Lankan Tamils who volunteered to serve as LTTE accountants and bankers, procurement officers, ship captains, and crew. The ships managed by KP initially transported the weapons to Indian waters, and thereafter to the Sri Lankan waters. Using trawlers, LTTE transported the weapons and related technologies to shore. To manage the operation, KP traveled extensively worldwide building a financial, procurement, and shipping network.

A few professional Tamils in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and New York visited arms exhibitions on KP’s behalf. KP was so daring that he even visited the U.S. to procure weapons. A master of disguise and forgery, KP was able to escape the attention of law enforcement and security and intelligence services. A former accountant of the LTTE said that whenever he met with KP at an airport, KP recognized him—and not vice versa.

KP’s Contribution

KP enabled the LTTE to establish itself as one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist groups. KP procured the explosives used by LTTE to build the first suicide jacket in 1991, a technology that would be copied by two dozen terrorist groups worldwide. The network built by KP facilitated the LTTE to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi, a former Prime Minister of India. Similarly, 50 tons of TNT and 10 tons of RDX (the plastic explosive)  purchased by KP from the Rubezone chemical plant in the Ukraine in 1994 killed thousands of civilians and soldiers. No terrorist group in history had ever purchased such a large quantity of explosives.

In appreciation of his contribution to the LTTE, Prabhakaran appointed KP to the Central Committee of the LTTE and made him the Secretary of LTTE’s International Affairs Division. For nearly three decades, KP has been the de facto—and now the de jure—head of the LTTE international network. After the death of Prabhakaran and the core leadership in May 2009, KP has emerged as his successor. If KP survives, the threat from LTTE will persist.

Securing Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka will face many challenges in the coming years. Nonetheless, the events of the last thirty years demonstrate that Sri Lanka is a resilient nation. Even if ten organizations like the LTTE emerge, the government will be able to neutralize the threat. Although the LTTE in Sri Lanka is dead, there will be efforts by the vast LTTE network overseas to revive violence.

As long as support for LTTE persists overseas, Sri Lanka will remain under threat. To meet these threats, it is paramount for Sri Lanka to build a powerful security and intelligence service. By investing in recruiting and training the best minds, future governments will be able to detect threats and neutralize them before they manifest. Sri Lanka will also have to build its capacity to respond to developments overseas.