Selected Writings by Sachi Sri Kantha

On Special Agent-in-Charge Leslie Wiser Jr’s Undercover Sting Operation

23 August 2006

The following are my random thoughts on the ‘line by line’ reading and ‘between the lines’ reading of the news release dated Aug.21, 2006, from the U.S.Department of Justice, under the name of United States Attorney Rosalynn R.Mauskopf, Eastern District of New York.

It carried the following caption, in big case letters

‘EIGHT DEFENDANTS ARRESTED BY THE FBI AND CHARGED WITH CONSPIRING TO PROVIDE MATERIAL SUPPORT AND RESOURCES TO A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION AND RELATED OFFENSES.’

The sub-caption stated, ‘Four defendants are caught in an undercover sting operation attempting to purchase a large number of surface-to-air missiles, missile launchers, and hundreds of AK-47 automatic rifles’.

The named individuals, in this indictment, are as follows:

Sathajhan Sarachandran (also known as ‘Satha’), born 1979 Oct 31.
Sahilal Sabaratnam (also known as ‘Sahil’), born 1979 Feb.8.
Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam (also known as ‘Thani’), born 1968 June 11.
Nadarasa Yogarasa (also known as ‘Yoga’), born 1954 Oct.8.
Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy (also known as ‘Dr.Moorthy’ and ‘Vinayagamoorthy Murugesu’), born 1949 Apr.24.
Nachimuthu Socrates, born 1951 Nov.20.
Vijayshanthar Patpanathan (also known as ‘Chandru’), born 1962 Apr.5.
Thirukumaran Sivasubramaniam, born 1979 June 20.

Leslie G.Wiser Jr., FBI Special Agent-in-Charge, Newark Field Office, had asserted,

“Today’s arrests of high level Tamil Tiger financiers and operatives are a clear example of the FBI’s ability to combine long term, complex intelligence gathering, terrorism prevention, and law enforcement. This weekend’s operation has severely impaired the Tamil Tigers’ ability to acquire funding and weapons for their ongoing terror operations in Sri Lanka.”

At least this assertion by FBI Agent Mr.Wiser makes it clear that LTTE’s specific target is “Sri Lanka”, and not any other states, including USA. Thus, LTTE differs from some other high profile organizations which are included in the U.S.State Department’s ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ list.

Towards the end of the news release, one sentence also clearly states, “The charges in the complaints are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.” This is a virtue of the American-style Judiciary system.

But I find it rather difficult to gulp the self-congratulatory pat by Mr.Wiser about FBI’s meritorious duty of “long term, complex intelligence gathering, terrorism prevention, and law enforcement.” It is an open secret to Americans and others that FBI’s past professional record is not so stellar. Without solid proof, FBI has had the distinction of smearing the names of many talented individuals (Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr, Chaplin, Muhamad Ali are few such greats) who are now recognized uniformly as heroes.

I also smell something fishy here. The FBI still hasn’t solved two high profile disappearance/death cases, which occurred decades ago within the American territory; that of trade union leader Jimmy Hoffa’s “disappearance” on July 30, 1975 and the real cause of death of movie star Marilyn Monroe on Aug.5, 1962. But curiously in this Aug.21 news release from Brooklyn, New York, the FBI’s crystal ball had delivered the verdict that LTTE was responsible for the assassination of “Sri Lankan government’s peace secretariat, Ketheshwaran Loganathan”.

Check the date again. Kethesh Loganathan was killed on August 12th night in Sri Lanka, and within nine days, how and on what impeccable forensic evidence (other than the voluble accusations of President Rajapakse and his chorus singers, appearing in the Sri Lankan state’s media mouthpieces) did the FBI came to the decision that LTTE was responsible for this assassination?

The police sleuths in Colombo are still groping in the dark as per any clues on the assassins of Loganathan. As of today, I could locate only two skimpy news reports from Colombo (dated Aug.15th) which provide details on the investigations relating to Loganathan’s killing. For the record, I provide the relevant excerpts:

“At around 9pm on Saturday two gunmen had rung the home bell and as he [Loganathan] was opening the entrance gate he had been shot. According to police, the gunmen had come in a van and had spoken in both Sinhala and Tamil. The Police sources also said that before he was shot, the assailants had repeatedly asked his name. They also had introduced themselves as CID officers and had asked Mr.Loganathan to open the gate. ‘The shots had been fired at close range,’ police said.” [Susitha Fernando, ‘Post mortem held on Loganathan’s body at Kalubowila Hospital’, Daily Mirror, Aug.15, 2006].

“Over seven suspects had been questioned in connection with the assassination of Government Peace Secretariat Deputy and Secretary of the All Party Representative Committee, Kethesh Loganathan, at his residence on Saturday evening. Dehiwela police conducted a cordon and search soon after the incident in Dehiwela. During the search, seven suspects were taken into custody, police said. The seven suspects were released after proving that they had no connection to the assassination, sources added. Three teams from Dehiwela police conducting the investigation. Police told the Daily News due to security reasons the police are unable to provide further information.” [Rafik Jalaldeen, ‘Kethesh murder: Seven questioned’, Daily News, Aug.15, 2006].

Among those specifically cited as political victims of LTTE in the news release prepared by the US Department of Justice on Aug.21, are the following -  Rajiv Gandhi (in 1991), Ranasinghe Premadasa (in 1993), Neelan Tiruchelvam (in 1999), C.V.Goonaratne (in 2000) and Ketheshwaran Loganathan (in 2006). Specific inclusion of Loganathan’s name, and within nine days of his death, makes one wonder whether this guy has had any kind of mutually attractive service links to American agencies. Equally interesting is the omission of another big name Lakshman Kadirgamar in this list.