Tamil Canadian Tamil Canadians, or Canadian Tamils, are Canadians of Tamil ethno-linguistic origin. Much of Canada's Tamil diaspora from India and Sri Lanka then majority consist of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who sought to flee the ethnic tensions during the Sr ...

computer-science student, ''Sarhajhan 'Sarachandran, is a member of the

Tamil Tigers The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...

who pleaded guilty to trying to purchase

anti-aircraft missile Anti-aircraft missiles are guided missiles designed to destroy or damage aircraft. These include * air-to-air missile, a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft * subsurface-to-air missile, a missile usually l ...

s for the militant group. He was convicted of supporting terrorism.

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

Toronto man pleads guilty to aiding Tamil Tigers
January 27, 2009 American Nadarasa Yogarasa was alleged to have helped Sarachandran concoct the plan, after Sarachandran contacted an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, about purchasing weapons for the Tigers. The informant sent him e-mails suggesting he had ten

9K38 Igla The 9K38 Igla (, "needle", NATO reporting name SA-18 Grouse) is a Soviet/Russian man-portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. A simplified, earlier version is known as the 9K310 Igla-1 (NATO: SA-16 Gimlet), and the latest ...

missiles and 500

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

s for $900,000, and suggested that the pair meet him in a New York warehouse. Two other Canadians, Sahilal Sabaratnam and Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam, accompanied the pair, who traveled claiming they were attending a

bachelor party A bachelor party (in the United States), also known as a stag weekend, stag do or stag party (in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries, and Ireland), or a buck's night (in Australia and Canada), is a party held for or arranged by a man wh ...

in the state. A student at the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

,''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

''
GTA man pleads guilty in arms case
January 27, 2008 Sarachandran claimed to have been in direct contact with leader

Velupillai Prabhakaran Velupillai Prabhakaran (; ; ; 26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Sri Lankan guerrilla and a major figure of Tamil nationalism, being the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organiza ...

and had lately been speaking to intelligence chief Pottu Amman. On January 26, 2009, he pleaded guilty, and two days later his co-defendants Sahilal Sabaratnam and Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam also pleaded guilty. In January 2010, Sarachandran was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarachandran, Sathajhan Canadian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam members Living people Year of birth missing (living people)