War time finance commisar of Tamil Eelam Mr.Pathmanathan has arrested in Thailand- Confirmed ENB

KP confusion: Govt. denies Thai denial
By Sandun A Jayasekera & Sunil Jayasiri

Despite Interpol itself denying reports of the arrest of LTTE kingpin Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, a Government Minister yesterday claimed he was arrested and his extradition had been sought through the Foreign Ministry. “According to immigration records of the past two years, there is no record of him entering the country,” Thai Interpol Chief Col. Apichart Suribunya, told the Associated Press on Tuesday, adding there had been no arrests of Sri Lankans in the past three to four days.However addressing the media at the Information Department yesterday, Minister Gamini Lokuge said the Foreign Ministry has already requested Interpol to make arrangements to deport KP to Sri Lanka.
“This man is wanted not only by the Sri Lankan Government but by many other countries and the world’s top police agency, Interpol,” Minister Lokuge said.
When told by the Daily Mirror that the arrest of KP had been denied by the Thai Government, Minister Lokuge said the arrest has nothing to do with the Thai government as it was the work of Interpol.
The militant is being kept by the world police body in Thailand, he said.
Asked whether the Sri Lanka Government was going to make a request to the Thai Government to deport him, he said a formal request was to be made by the Foreign Ministry.
“But it takes time for a country-to-country deportation as it will have to be carried out according to the treaties existing between the two governments. If there was no deportation treaty between Sri Lanka and Thailand it would be a problem,” he said.
Meanwhile, Thai police was quoted by Reuters yesterday as saying there was no truth in reports triggered by an allegation on a Sri Lankan Government website that a top Tamil Tiger leader had been arrested in Bangkok.
“I've checked with related police bureaux -- the Immigration Police, the Metropolitan Police and the Special Branch. There has been no report of a Tiger rebel arrested in Bangkok,” national police spokesman Lieutenant-General Ronnarong Youngyuen said. “If we'd arrested him, we would have made good publicity out of it,” he told Reuters.
The Sri Lankan Defence Ministry site at www.defence.lk said “reliable sources from Thailand reveal that LTTE's chief for cross border terrorist activities, Kumaran Padmanadan alias KP has been arrested in Bangkok.”

Defence leak cause for ‘KP’ arrest denial

By Easwaran Rutnam

The Defence Ministry “leak” of the arrest of LTTE’s arms procurement Chief Kumaran Padmanathan and the wide media publicity it generated led to Thailand authorities denying the reports until he was deported to Sri Lanka owing to its sensitivity, well informed government sources told the Daily Mirror yesterday.
While insisting that the LTTE frontliner, also known as ‘KP’ was under Thai custody and moves were afoot to seek his deportation to Sri Lanka the source said that
Thailand wanted to ensure his identity was verified before going public but at the same time was also concerned the publicity over his arrest could hamper further investigations. “He has multiple passports including a Thai one so Thailand can easily deny they don’t have a Sri Lankan in their custody under that name. The fact is that this story should not have come out until he was deported to Sri Lanka,” the source said.
The Defence Ministry website, earlier this week, quoted reliable sources from Thailand as saying that the LTTE's chief for cross border terrorist activities had been arrested in Bangkok. Thailand was however quick to deny the reports while the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry refused to comment.
Meanwhile the Indian Express reported that the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had approached authorities in Thailand to confirm the arrest of Pathmanathan, who was allegedly involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The Indian Embassy in Bangkok said it was awaiting a response from the Thai Government on its request for confirmation of the reports of arrest of Padmanathan on charges of gun-running. In 2003 three LTTE operatives were arrested in the Ranong province in Thailand together with 10 Glock pistols and three HK Mark 23 pistols. The LTTE operatives, who were recently deported to Sri Lanka, pleaded guilty and received five year jail sentences in November 2003.
Following the arrest 14 Thais were also arrested, and among them were 8 from the police and the military. They were believed to be in the same gun smuggling ring.

Police to record LTTEr’s statement in Thailand
By Sunil Jayasiri

A high level Sri Lankan defence delegation led by a Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police left for Thailand to record a statement from Kumaran Padmanathan, alias KP, the mastermind of the LTTE’s global arms network who was arrested in Thailand, sources said.
A top defence official told the Daily Mirror yesterday that a Foreign Ministry official had also accompanied the Sri Lankan delegation to Bangkok.
He also said that the Sri Lankan delegation, which left for Thailand on Tuesday evening, would meet the Thai defence authorities to negotiate the possible extradition of the top LTTE leader, who had been based in Thailand and Cambodia and controlled a global network that supplied weapons to the Tamil Tigers.
It is also learnt that the delegation has already held discussions with the Interpol representatives in Thailand who made the arrest. India has also indicated that it wants Thailand to extradite a top LTTEr to India.