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Tamil Tiger credit card racket spreads to Chennai, India

14 February 2007

The Sri Ramachandra Medical College police at Porur, Chennai, arrested G. Elango, a Tamil Tiger agent carrying a British passport, on Friday and seized 28 ATM cards in his possession. The police said Elango illegally withdrew over Rs. 30 lakh from the ATM centres of a few nationalized banks and a private bank. The amount was then sent to the United Kingdom through unauthorized channels.

It is learnt that the Chennai Police was alerted by a civilian who had seen Elango using several ATM cards to withdraw money from an ATM centre of a private bank on Mount-Poonamallee Road, Porur.

A police team led by the Assistant Commissioner Police Balasubramaniam caught Elango red-handed while he was withdrawing money from the ATM machine.

G. Elango (38) of Middlesex, United Kingdom, is a shareholder in ‘Thamilini’ -- a cash and carry grocery shops operated by the Tamil Tigers in UK.

Elango is from Valvetiturai, a notorious port for smugglers in the north of Sri Lanka. He is the partner of the LTTE’s cash and carry centres of Thamilini in London suburbs - one in Croydon and another in Southall.

After the arrest Police has found, besides the ATM cards, registration certificate books of two cars, a cellular phone and a passport. Tamil Nadu Police is now seeking the assistance of the Scotland Yard to obtain more information about Elango. The Tamil Ttigers are also under investigation in UK for operating credit card rackets in Europe.