U.S. Court sentences Singaporean for aiding Tamil Tiger terrorists

A United States federal court Monday sentenced a 48-year-old Singapore national for a prison term of nearly five years for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

U.S. District Court in Baltimore handed the prison sentence on Thursday to Balraj Naidu, who was found guilty in October of conspiracy to provide material support to Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

The prosecutors say Naidu aided Tamil Tiger terrorists in an attempted purchase of grenade launchers, sniper rifles, machine guns, and other state of the art firearms worth US$ 900,000.

Naidu was charged following an undercover operation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Homeland Security Investigations jointly with Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Baltimore Police.