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Cornered by warships, LTTE scuttles its own arms ship

by Our Defence Correspondent
The LTTE sank one of its own arms ships last week, losing hundreds of tons of sophisticated weapons and ammunition, as warships surrounded the vessel in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, according to Foreign Ministry sources.

The sinking was the climax of a massive nine day hunt in the eastern Indian Ocean which involved dozens of warships and aircraft from the Sri Lanka Navy, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Coast Guard, a senior Foreign Ministry source told the Island.

Sri Lanka Navy gunboats initially forced the 500-tonne ship, "MV Mari-Amma," to abort its mission of delivering war supplies to the LTTE off the Mullaittivu coast, by chasing it out to the open seas on March 7.

The ship fled across the Bay of Bengal, heading for Thailand, but its crew sank it themselves on March 11 when it became clear that it could not get away, Foreign Ministry sources said.

Indian newspapers on Tuesday said that the Indian Eastern Naval Command in Vishakapatnam reported to Defence Minister George Fernandes that the ship sank near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are Indian territories near the coast of Thailand, Foreign Ministry sources said.

The Hindu and the Hindustan Times published stories from New Delhi, detailing the operation.

The hunt began on March 3, when a Sri Lankan fishing boat, ' "Deepa 3," sent a frantic radio message that it was being attacked by an unidentified merchant vessel, about 200 miles east of Mullaittivu. The trawler was never heard from again. It is believed that the fishing boat was destroyed because it had encountered the MV Mari-Amma by chance before the lethal cargo could be delivered.

Sri Lanka's navy commander, Vice Admiral Cecil Tissera, immediately ordered a massive search operation by the navy's Northern and Eastern Commands, co-ordinated from the Operations Directorate at Navy headquarters in Colombo. Virtually every gunboat and fast attack craft from Karainagar, Kankesanthurai and Trincomalee joined in the hunt.

With the gunboats scouring the seas off the east coast, the MV Mari-Amma was forced to stay out of sight, hundreds of miles out at sea. But it was seen by several other trawlers, and the LTTE crew destroyed these fishing vessels to prevent the Mari-Amma's location being reported. These vessels are believed to be the "Ranjith Putha," "Baby Natalie," "Three Star," "Dhulan Putha," "Samaya," "Sachin Putha," and "Jeewanee. "

The trawlers' crews, numbering a total of about 40, half of them Tamils and the others Sinhalese, are believed to have been killed and their bodies dumped in the sea.

Hours after the Deepa 3 called for help, a naval gunboat searching for it found the wreck of a fishing boat about 130 miles from the coast. This was not the Deepa 3, but was identified as the "Baby Natalie," which was from Trincomalee. There was no sign of the crew.

Before the day ended, yet another abandoned wreck was found in the area. This was the "Dhulan Putha," also from Trincomalee.

The next day, March 4, a capsized vallam was found, again with no-one around. This was also from Trincomalee, the "Samaya" A gunboat towed it to Kankesanthurai.

Most disturbing was the fact that all three of these boats were found to have bullet holes in them, clearly showing that they had been attacked.

The gunboat crews continued the search, grimmer now, knowing they were hunting an adversary who was murdering innocent fishermen in cold blood. But for three days, nothing more was found.

Then on March 7, one trawler, named "Titus 2," managed to flash its position in a dramatic S.O.S. message, as the Mari-Amma chased it and sank it.

Sri Lankan gunboats, which were already close by, streaked towards the spot.

The Mari-Amma fled shortly before the gunboats got to the scene, and headed at full speed across the Bay of Bengal, chased by the warships.

But in trying to get away from the Sri Lanka Navy, the Mari-Amma headed directly towards the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are Indian territories.

Unfortunately for the Mari-Amma's crew, in their rush to get to Southeast Asia they chose to try to go through a sea channel between the Andaman and Nicobar island chains, an area dominated by the Indian Navy, which has the largest fleet of warships in the region.

Indian defence officials had been monitoring the Sri Lankan Navy's operations, and as the Mari- Amma went deeper into the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Navy's Eastern Command sent reconnaissance planes from Arakonam and Chennai air fields to shadow the ship, which was still being chased by the Sri Lanka Navy.

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