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SINGAPOREAN TRYING TO BUY MISSILES FOR TAMIL TIGERS SENTENCED TO 37 MONTHS OF JAIL & 3 YEARS SUPERVISED RELEASE

By Walter Jayawardhana

The Singapore man who tried to purchase surface to Air missiles ,Night Devices , machine guns and State of the art US made firearms for Tamil Tigers was sentenced to 37 months in prisons and three years of supervised release by the US District Judge Catherin C.Blake in Baltimore , Maryland.
The 57 year old Muslim, who was a leader of a larger group of Indonesians and Sri Lankan Tamils involving even some Canadian Sri Lankan Tamils were caught in a grand sting operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations were arrested last year and were being sentenced from time to time. This latest sentencing came on October 30.

United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein said , "Haniffa Bin Osman conspired with others to provide material support to the Tamil Tigers, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and attempted to illegally export arms, including state of the art firearms, grenade launchers, night vision devices, surface to air missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. We will use all available legal tools to prevent terrorism, including undercover operations targeting people who attempt to obtain military weapons in violation of American law."

According to the plea agreement, from April to September 29, 2006 Osman conspired with Haji Subandi, Erick Wotulo and Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa to provide state-of-the-art firearms, machine guns and ammunition, surface to air missiles, night vision goggles and other military weapons to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) operating within Sri Lanka, to be used to fight against Sri Lankan government forces. The conspirators contacted an undercover business in Maryland about the sale of military weapons, requesting price quotes and negotiating the purchases.
Subandi sent an itemized list of 53 military weapons, including sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers that he wanted to acquire for the Tamil Tigers. Subandi advised the undercover business that Osman would inspect the weapons for the Tamil Tigers. Wotulo also advised that the chief of Tamil Tigers requested that he and Osman travel to Baltimore to meet with the undercover agents.

Osman arrived in Guam on September 26, 2006 and inspected various machine guns, sniper rifles and ammunition. He also inspected two surface to air missiles and agreed to communicate with others within the Tamil Tigers about the availability and pricing of the missiles. After the inspection was completed, Osman agreed to arrange for the transfer of additional monies into an undercover bank account in Maryland as further payment for the arms and munitions. On September 28 an additional $452,000 was wired from Malaysia to the undercover account in Maryland as a further down payment on the $900,000 worth of weapons ordered by the Tamil Tigers.

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