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WASHINGTON - A Sri Lankan national pleaded guilty in a Maryland court Thursday to charges he tried to smuggle US weapons to Tamil Tiger fighters, the US Justice Department announced.
Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa, 37, pleaded guilty to attempted export of arms and munitions and to conspiracy to support the Tamil Tigers, a group the US State Department has considered a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.
Varatharasa was the last of six defendants in the plot to be convicted of trying to obtain military weapons in the 2006 scheme in violation of US law.
He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to the Tigers, and 10 more years for trying to export weapons and ammunition.
US District Judge Catherine Blake has not set a sentencing date.
"We are committed to using all available legal tools to prevent terrorism," said US Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod Rosenstein.
Six people -- four Indonesians, a Singaporean, and Varatharasa -- were arrested late last year after US undercover officers trapped them in a sting operation.
They had sought to buy 53 military weapons, including sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers as well as ammunition and night-vision devices for the Tamil Tigers.
They contacted an undercover business in Maryland to request a price list and negotiate a deal.
As the sting unfolded, Singaporean Haniffa Bin Osman, 55, met in July with undercover FBI agents in Baltimore to test-fire weapons and discuss transferring them to Sri Lanka.
He provided coordinates for delivering the weapons in the Indian Ocean, and also asked about the cost of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Haniffa told the agents that if the first order, for some 900,000 dollars worth of supplies, went smoothly a second one worth 15 million dollars could follow, according to the Justice Department.
In August, 250,000 dollars was wired from a Malaysian bank to a US bank account set up by the undercover agents as a down payment for the weapons' purchase.
Haniffa then travelled to Guam to inspect the weapons, which included two surface-to-air missiles.
Then a second payment of 452,000 dollars was made.
Haniffa was joined in Guam by retired Indonesian general Erick Wotulo, 59, and they both met with undercover agents to discuss shipping the weapons to Sri Lanka. They were both arrested in September in Guam.
Indonesian Haji Subandi, 69, pleaded guilty to the charges on March 8, and faces a maximum penalty of 15 years for conspiracy and 20 years for each of two counts of money laundering, as well as 10 years for attempted exportation of arms.
Wotulo and Haniffa both pleaded guilty and face maximum sentences of 15 years in prison for conspiracy and 20 years for money laundering.
Two other Indonesians also pleaded guilty, and all will be sentenced in the coming weeks.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are fighting for independence in Sri Lanka's northern and eastern regions. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 1972. – AFP/ir
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