Sea Tiger leader Soosai wife Satyadevi and her children had planned to reach India and then make arrange’s to reach the UK. Well informed sources said that Satyadevi, a former member of the Sea Tigers felt that she could live with her brother living in the UK. Under interrogation, she had claimed that Soosai had briefed an LTTE cadre tasked with taking her to India but she wasn’t aware of the instructions.

An official told The Island that Satyadevi’s route was similar to the one taken by the then JVP politburo member Somawansa Amarasinghe to escape security forces hunting for members of the proscribed organisation in the late 80s.

The navy arrested Satyadevi and ten others 2.5 nautical miles from land in the early hours of Friday (May 15).

The boat carrying Soosai’s wife had been launched at about 2. 30 a.m. from a point close to the Jordanian ship Farah III which had run aground near Karayamullivaikkal in December 2006. The navy had allowed the boat, initially believed to be a suicide craft, to take a north easterly direction before firing two shots to force it to halt.

The boat, powered by one 15 horse power OBM had been operated by an experienced LTTE cadre. Although the navy didn’t immediately identify Soosai wife, the officers at the scene had recognized that they were different from the ordinary civilians. Following initial checking, the group had been taken onboard a trawler and transferred to Chalai where the identification was made.

Captain D. K. P. Dassanayake speaking to ‘The Island’ from Chalai said that Soosai’s wife, Satyadevi, was the sister of Shankar, one of Prabhakaran’s close associates killed at Nelliady in 1982. Dassanayake, in charge of small boat operations on the Mullaitivu theatre asserted that the boatman was making an attempt to reach Indian waters when the navy swooped down on the group.

Responding to our queries, he said that they had enough fuel, a map and global positioning system to reach Indian waters. "They had enough money to secure accommodation before being taken to a previously arranged position," he said.

Although Satyadevi, a former Sea Tiger cadre had initially refused to divulge her identity, once the navy produced irrefutable evidence of her identity she broke down. Under interrogation she had said that her husband was alive but flatly refused to discuss the whereabouts of Prabhakaran.

Dassanayake said that among the 11 persons taken from the boat were the families of Ruban and Suda, two veteran LTTE cadres.

Along with Satyadevi, the navy detained Soosai’s daughter Sivanesan Mani Arasu, son Sivanesan Sindhu, sister-in- law C Thavarasa (58), elder brother’s son Silanbarasa, and Ruban’s wife N. Sivanesan (25). The navy also recovered Rs. 575,000/ and two and a half kgs of gold. Among the items recovered from them were Toblerone chocolates.

Soosai’s children had said that they hadn’t received firearms training. They had studied well and also learnt to use computers while the LTTE forcibly conscripted thousands of children to wage war, the navy said.