Former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s allegations that the ruling DMK was making Tamil Nadu a haven for banned organisations might seem a bit harsh. But the rash of arrests over the past few months of LTTE cadres, operatives and supporters and seizure of materials meant to be smuggled across to the Tigers waging a civil war in Sri Lanka, seem to lend credence to her charge that their activities in the state have escalated.

Barely six months after the DMK came to power in May 2006, police seized sizeable quantities of gelex boosters along with hundreds of polythene bags from a vehicle near Madurai. The consignment was apparently meant to be shipped from Rameshwaram, for long a smugglers’ hub, into northern Sri Lanka. In fact, Rameshwaram has for long been a vital channel for smuggling explosives, boats and other essentials to the Tigers.

In January, the state Q Branch arrested eight LTTE operatives while trying to smuggle a truck load of ball-bearings, purchased from a small automobile spare parts company in Mumbai. The consignment had been taken from Chennai to Tuticorin from where it was to be dispatched to northern Sri Lanka. This February, two boats along with some fishermen, carrying a sizeable cache of ammunition and explosives, and metallic bars packed in gunny bags, were seized by the Coast Guard. Later that month, the Coast Guard destroyed a powerful LTTE boat, intercepted by it a week earlier. While interrogating the five men, the police discovered that the boat had been packed with IEDs.

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