The Swiss federal police have arrested ten people in a nationwide sting operation targeting members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), or Tamil Tigers.
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On Tuesday the police searched 23 sites in cantons Basel City, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Graubünden, Lucerne, Solothurn, St Gallen, Vaud and Zurich.
The operation was carried out in connection with an investigation dating back to May 2009, when several people of Tamil origin were accused of extortion, forgery, money laundering and membership in a criminal organisation.
Using threats and blackmail, the accused are suspected of forcing their Swiss-based countrymen to support the LTTE financially.
According to the federal authorities, the LTTE managed to collect several million Swiss francs, which it mainly used to buy weapons in Sri Lanka.
Switzerland is home to more than 40,000 Sri Lankan Tamils, many of whom fled the civil war in the 1980s and 90s.
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