LTTE member arrested in Germany

BERLIN - Germany has arrested an alleged member of the former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an armed Sri Lanka group, on terrorism charges, prosecutors said in Karlsruhe.

The German national, 35, was arrested the previous day at Dusseldorf Airport when he arrived by plane from Madagascar, which had deported him. His name has been withheld under German media and privacy laws.

Prosecutors say he was active with the German branch of the LTTE from 2005 to 2009. LTTE, which was defeated by the Colombo government last year, is defined by the European Union as a foreign terrorist organisation.

Membership in the group is a crime under German law. Some of the Tamil community in Germany actively supported the LTTE with donations. The man is alleged to have helped organise the activists and to have sent supplies for LTTE rebels in Sri Lanka.

Prosecutors did not say how long he had been in Madagascar. He appeared Thursday before a judge and was remanded into custody.