An intelligence wing member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and seven Sri Lankan Tamils were arrested in Chennai last night and iron-ball rings and plastics used in making explosives seized from them.
The group was procuring supplies for the LTTE and gathering information on movements of anti-LTTE leader Varadaraja Perumal and Sri Lankan Social Service and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, the police said.
The LTTE operative Thambidurai Parameswaran had arrived in Rameswaram clandestinely in February 2007 and was masquerading as a taxi driver and procuring iron ball-rings, plastic, two-wheelers and boats, a press release issued by the police said.
He had engaged the seven Sri Lankan Tamils who attempted to procure these articles from Puducherry and Rameswaram to be smuggled to Sri Lanka by boats from Rameswaram, it said.
Acting on information, police arrested Thambidurai at Madipakkam in the suburbs of the city last night and during interrogation details of the seven others in the city were revealed by him.
Varadaraja Perumal and Douglas Devananda, known for his anti-LTTE stand, are regular visitors to India.
The eight arrested were produced before a magistrate on Thursday who remanded them to judicial custody.
A case has been registered against them under the Foreigners Act and for supporting the banned outfit, LTTE, the release said.
The police have also seized a vehicle purchased by Thambidurai on the hawala money supplied by LTTE.
Plastics and iron ball-rings to be sent to Sri Lanka were also seized, the release said.
The Tamil Nadu government had been taking stern steps against LTTE supporters after the Congress expressed its concern over increased support to the banned outfit particularly after the killing of LTTE political wing leader S P Tamilselvan in a bombing raid by the Sri Lankan air force.