COLOMBOl Perinpanayagam Sivaparan alias Nediyawan, who is believed to be KP’s successor as leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was taken into custody by the Norwegian police, a London-based website reported.
He was questioned and then released on August 12, the Tamil-language website www.thesamnet.co.uk reported.
Rohan Gunaratna, Sri Lankan expert on terrorism, who is based in Singapore, had told a Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that KP’s successor was in Norway, and had demanded that the authorities stop tolerating the “dangerous man”.
According to the website, Nediyavan was questioned about the assault on one Sethuroopan, but the police did not give a reason for the arrest and questioning. It is also mentioned that Nediyavan had tortured one Jayadevan of London in early 2005, when the latter was in the LTTE-controlled Wanni in north Sri Lanka. Nediyavan, (‘the tall one’ in Tamil) wanted to know about the administration of a rich Hindu temple in the British capital. On return to London, Jayadevan had lodged a complaint with the police.
Thesamnet further said that following the arrest and questioning of Nediyavan, many others with alleged links with the LTTE could be questioned.
According to The Nation, a weekly from Colombo, 37-year-old Nediyavan, unlike KP, trusts the power of the muscle, and is believed to be ruthless like the LTTE founder Velupillai Prabhakaran. He always moved with a muscular and armed Tamil gang around him in the Tamil Vestlan area in Norway which is his beat. Only a few weeks ago, he was supposed to have assaulted a former LTTE supporter in Norway over an argument.
Nediyavan has been the head of the Tamil Coordinating Committee Office in Norway, which handles millions of Norwegian money raked in primarily by intimidating Tamils, and also money earned from legal and illegal businesses conducted there, The Nation reported.