Tamil Tiger rebels have acknowledged their new leader has been arrested in Malaysia and handed over to the Sri Lankan military.Notably, there is a contradiction regarding the place of LTTE chief’s arrest. According to rebels, Selvarasa Pathmanathan was arrested in Malaysia, but Sri Lanka's Defence Minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had earlier claimed that the Tiger rebel was detained in Thailand.
In a statement, LTTE says that Selvarasa Pathmanathan was captured near a hotel on Wednesday by the Malaysian Royal Intelligence Corps.
The confirmation by rebels came hours after the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry verified the reports that Pathmanathan, who was appointed the leader of the Tamil Tigers following the killing of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, has been arrested.
"Most wanted LTTE terrorist for Interpol and local security divisions Kumaran Padmanadan alias KP has been taken into custody by Sri Lankan law enforcement authorities," it was reported on the Defence Ministry website.
"The suspect is known to be responsible for cross-border terrorist activities of Liberation Tiger of the Tamil Elam (LTTE)," it added.
Sri Lanka's military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara says Pathmanathan was brought to Sri Lanka and is being questioned.
Pathmanathan has been sought by Interpol for smuggling arms for the Tamil Tigers.
As the new rebel leader, Pathmanathan said the LTTE had decided to silence their guns and would try non-violent methods to achieve their goal of a separate state for the Tamil minority, BBC reported.
Sri Lanka's military says it is interrogating Pathmanathan.
Meanwhile, Nanayakkara declined on Friday to say where and when Pathmanathan was captured.
Pathmanathan took over as the LTTE's leader after Prabhakaran was killed on May 18 in the island's north. Prabhakaran's killing had brought the curtains down on one of the world's bloodiest ethnic conflicts that ravaged this nation.
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