Two Sri Lankan immigrants pleaded guilty Tuesday to U.S. charges they plotted to buy missiles and assault weapons and smuggle them to militants fighting a bloody civil war in their homeland.
The pleas came on the eve of a trial scheduled in federal court in Brooklyn. Two other defendants also arrested in an FBI sting operation in 2006 had pleaded guilty a day earlier to conspiring to provide material support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers, a Sri Lankan guerrilla force the Department of State calls a terrorist organization.
Sahilal Sabaratnam, 29, and Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam, 40, pleaded guilty Tuesday and face 25 years to life in prison, as does Sathajhan Sarachandran, 29, who pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and a weapons charge. Nadarasa Yogarasa, 54, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and faces up to 30 years.
Yogarasa attorneys Steve Zissou and Elizabeth Macedonio said in a statement they would present several arguments for leniency at sentencing in June, "the most important being that at no point did his actions threaten the security of the United States or any of its citizens."
Lawyers for the other men declined to comment or didn't immediately return telephone messages.
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for an independent homeland since 1983. The 3 million mainly Hindu Tamils have long claimed persecution by the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese majority in the nation of 19 million people.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands on the island, which lies off India's southern tip.
The arms case is part of a broader campaign by U.S. authorities to cut off support for the Tamil Tigers. Prosecutors also have brought charges against several people accused of being loyalists and trying to bribe U.S. officials to remove the group from the terrorism list.
The FBI began investigating the arms plot in 2006 after the defendants, who were living in Ontario, Canada, contacted a government informant, believing he had contacts in the arms black market, according prosecutors Greg Andres, Marshall Miller and Andrew Goldsmith. A meeting was set for New York in August 2006.
After the men crossed the Canadian-U.S. border, undercover agents posing as arms dealers lured them to a warehouse. Once there, they were recorded on videotape agreeing to an initial shipment of 10 surface-to-air missiles and 500 AK-47s and were arrested.
