Naidu, LTTE arms supplier, extradited to US

Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 25: An ethnic Indian Singaporean businessman and opposition Reform Party member Balldev Naidu Ragavan, has been extradited from Singapore to the United States where he stands accused of trying to supply arms to Sri Lanka's defeated Tamil Tiger rebels.

Naidu, 47, was extradited to the US on December 18, 'The Straits Times' newspaper reported quoting Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs.

The order for his extradition came last month after a local district court ruled that there was sufficient evidence to justify a hearing of his alleged offences in the US.

He is wanted by the American authorities for allegedly conspiring with another Singaporean, Haniffa Osman, to try to buy weapons for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Haniffa, 57, pleaded guilty a year ago and was sentenced to 37 months' jail by a Baltimore court. Naidu is said to have acted as a broker between firearms manufacturers and purchasers between February and September 2006.

Sri Lankan troops overran Tamil Tigers in May this year after fighting a three-decade-long war with them.

PTI