Updated Wednesday, November 4, 2009 10:16 am TWN, AFP

Singaporean faces U.S. trial over Tamil Tigers arms case

SINGAPORE -- A Singaporean opposition party member will be extradited to the United States and tried for allegedly trying to supply arms to Sri Lanka's defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, officials here said Tuesday. Businessman Balldev Naidu, 47, is facing six charges including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and possession of a firearm in 2006, a court official told AFP. The Singapore Police said Naidu was arrested on September 22 following a U.S. extradition request. He is alleged to have conspired with another Singaporean, Haniffa Osman, now serving a 37-month U.S. jail term for trying to buy weapons for the Tamil Tigers, who were routed by Sri Lankan troops in May, the Straits Times reported. The newspaper added that the U.S. charges correspond to Singapore's laws against financing of terrorist groups. Naidu is a founding member of Singapore's tiny opposition Reform Party but its secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam said Tuesday that the U.S. charges involved alleged activities before the party was set up in 2008. The Tamil Tigers, as they were popularly known, had been campaigning since 1972 for a separate homeland for the island's Tamil minority and drew support from members of the overseas Tamil community.
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