New intelligence shows that the Taliban in Afghanistan are working with the Tamil Tigers-- using Tamil expertise and smuggling channels to greatly improve the Taliban arsenal. Paid for, of course, with money gained from opium sales.
:scared::scared::scared::scared::scared:
Asia Times
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GL22Df01.html
South Asia
Dec 22, 2005
Armed and dangerous: Taliban gear up
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - <snip>
The resistance has steadily taken steps, though, to beef up its arsenal to include modern automatic weapons and ground-to-air missiles. This it has done in part by forging closer links with the resistance in Iraq, as well as with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil, Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka.
<snip>
Pakistani intelligence sources say that al-Qaeda now works with the LTTE to get weapons, including automatic arms and ground-to-air missiles. The weapons are paid for in cash, as well as in drugs originating from Afghanistan, according to the sources. The drugs primarily are sent to Scandinavian countries and Thailand, the latter being a traditional base from which the LTTE has smuggled weapons.
"This is a perfect arrangement as resources are complemented - the Tigers get ideological support, while regular arms supplies on the other hand go to al-Qaeda, which ultimately feeds its fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan," said the source.
"The smuggling channels are the same that the Tamil Tigers have adopted for years
. The latest weapons originate through arm dealers, as well as those stolen from arms depots and shipped from South America and Lebanon. They are transferred from ship to ship and sometimes offloaded at small ports, and from there, using various channels, they reach the final destination," the source said.
<much more>