‘Aawa’ Nip it in the bud It is a far cry from ‘Mukkapola, Minnale’ and ‘Vennila’ of LTTE heydays
by Sugeeswara Senadhira
A well-organized crackdown on ‘Aawa Group,’ a Jaffna-based underground criminal gang involved in thefts, crimes, kidnapping people for ransom and other criminal activities was launched and several leading members are already in custody.
The criminal gang members were arrested from Atchuvely, Manipay, Kopay and Chunnakam Police divisions. Kumares Raththinam Vinothan, 21, from Inuvil also called ‘Aawa,’ who is said to be the leader of the criminal gang is also under custody. Minister of Law and Order and Southern Development Sagala Ratnayaka said most members of Aawa Group are aged between 18 – 25 years. They have assaulted university students, engaged in robberies and have taken ransoms in Jaffna, Kopay, Chunnakam, Manipai and Chavakachcheri Police divisions. Police have so far taken into possession nine motorcycles, two hand grenades, 12 swords, knuckle-dusters and a few other lethal weapons.
Local gang
State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene said the gang was not a creation of the Army. “Aawva Group is a local gang in the North using motorcycles for criminal activities. During a short period of time they have established a name by threatening and taking ransom from locals. This is not a group operated by the military, which has no reason to do so.” However, he did not totally dismiss Cabinet spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne’s allegation about military involvement. “Dr. Rajitha Senaratne is correct to a certain extent. One of the three suspects arrested in connection with the Aawa Group was in the Army before. He is a Tamil and an Army deserter. He has joined this group. Investigations are underway to see if the military is involved in this,” he added. The entire group has 60 members, out of which 38 are now in custody. We are on the lookout for eight leaders of different levels.”
The Tamil mafia, in the past, worked in hand-in-glove with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in their campaign to extort money from unwilling Tamils in Sri Lanka and abroad.
Gangs in France
French author Jerome Pierrat who wrote a book on Gangs in France in 2007, devoted a full chapter to Tamil gangs. In his book, “Mafias Gangs et Cartels: La Criminalité Internationale en France” (Mafias, Gangs and Cartels – International criminality in France), he described the fund raising activities of the LTTE with active collaboration with Tamil criminal gangs like Mukkapola, Minnale, Viluthu and Vennila. Pierrat revealed that the underworld activities of the Tamils in France and their close links with the LTTE.
Jeromme Pierrat consulted this columnist (when the latter was attached to the Sri Lanka Embassy in France in 2007-10) and held several discussions while writing the book. “These gangs use various arm-twisting to third degree methods to instil fear into those Tamils in France who are unwilling to pay money to the LTTE. Their methods are effective and petrified Tamils, in fear of their lives or the lives and limbs of their kith and kin in LTTE controlled areas in Sri Lanka, simply pay up,” the author said.
Tamil gangs
Of the Tamil gangs operated in Europe, the biggest one was the Mukkapola (or Mukkala or Mukkapulah). According to French Police intelligence services, it had about 400 members, and a wing of young people called the Bad Boys, for which there is no exact figure. This gang would also have structural links with the Viluthu, aka New Boys, with 50 henchmen.
Then came the Minnale and its 40 gangsters, the Vennila and its 30 members, the Shankar and the Tsunami, for which the number of members is unknown, and finally the Snakes with 20 people.
Pierrat, who has a doctorate from the University of Sorbonne, has used contacts ranging from underworld figures, hardcore LTTE terrorists, potential suicide bombers, and police and intelligence personnel in his fact-finding drive. “My methodology is to get information, follow the leads, make personal contacts with mafia gangs and finally crosscheck and doublecheck before arriving at the written version,” he explained.
He has written 10 books on French criminal gangs and related subjects. When asked what made him to look into the Tamil Mafia, he said, “I was in the Middle East researching for a book on Hezbollah and when I met a few guerrilla leaders, they claimed they were the first to use large-scale suicide bombing for a political cause. But when I started my research I found out that Tamil Tigers have mastered this terror tactic more than any other militant group. Furthermore, while studying the mafia gangs in Paris I came across the Tamil gangs and their overt and covert links with the LTTE”.
Fund raising
“I have found out that Tamil Tigers hire these gangs for their fund raising, extortion and blackmailing acts for ransom. I feel that the French society should know about criminal activities on their soil and also about the persons who are behind these criminal activities. Hence I research on the subject and bring them to the notice of the French public through my books”.
Several pro-LTTE Tamil gangs operated in Canada, especially in areas with a large concentration of expatriate Tamils. Toronto had many Tamil organized crime groups and the VVT and A.K.Kannan were the most dangerous of both. They were rivals and they had bloody wars throughout Toronto. According to Canada-based journalist D.B.S. Jeyaraj, 1999 was the bloodiest internecine war with murders happening every 2-3 weeks. VVT and A.K. Kannan use weapons ranging from Glocks to Ak-47s in guns and from baseball bats to machetes and shanks to secondary weapons. These organized criminal groups had connections in Ottawa and Montreal and were active.
Vicious gangs
Compared to the vicious gangs operated during the heydays of LTTE, the motorcycle gang ‘AAWA Gangsters’ seems to be a small fry. However, recent reports quoting the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) said the gang members received funds from the Tamil diaspora. The TID told Court the ‘AAWA Gangsters’ aim was to discredit the government. It was also suspected that the ‘AAWA Gangsters’ were operating under the leadership of an ex-LTTE carder named ‘Sanna’. It is possible that ‘Sanna’ is another pseudonym of Vinodan.
Although the sword-weilding “Aawa’ is a far cry from the pro-LTTE gangs with AK 47s and other heavy arsenal in the past, it is essential to conduct a thorough probe and nip it in the bud.
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