IndiaÂ’s navy and coast guard have seized two caches of weapons and explosive-making material believed destined for Sri LankaÂ’s Tamil Tiger rebels, and detained five people, officials said Wednesday. Both hauls were made off the coast of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which lies across a narrow strait from Sri Lanka.
In the biggest seizure on Monday, a navy patrol recovered nearly 3 tons of material for making explosives from a small boat off the coast of Rameswaram, about 700 kilometres south of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, said Navy Cmdr. Philip van Haltern. The material included hundreds of anodes, metal rings, rubber washers and metal nails - all of which are used to make the lethal roadside bombs and land mines favoured by the Tigers Another suspected LTTE cache was found Tuesday aboard a boat intercepted near the town of Point Calimere, about 450 kilometres south of Chennai, said coast guard Cmdr SK Panwar. All five of the men detained were aboard the fibreglass boat, and three are suspected to be members of the Tigers, said Panwar. |