The military said that the LTTE had received expertise of Ukrainian specialists to strengthen the Sea Tigers, particularly in underwater fighting skills. Well informed sources told The Sunday Island that foreign specialists had shared their experience with elite LTTE cadres shortly after the signing of the CFA brokered by Norway in February, 2002. The Ukrainian group had visited the Vanni during the 2002-2003 period, sources said adding Kumaran Padmanathan aka ‘KP’ was widely believed to be involved in arranging the programme.

The navy said that the LTTE had planned to cripple their operations with the help of foreign advisors and newly introduced tactics. The LTTE had deployed their special units after the outbreak of large scale hostilities in the East but failed to bring the navy down to its knees.

Had they succeeded, the navy would not have been able to maintain regular supplies to the Jaffna peninsula as well as deny freedom of movement of vessels bringing in supplies to LTTE strongholds north of Mannar and Mullaitivu.

Sources said that the LTTE had also brought in a range of equipment, including some of East European origin to equip special units tasked with crippling the navy. Responding to our queries, intelligence sources said that among the items, which had been recovered on the Vanni front by the army was close-circuit diving equipment. Sources said that the LTTE had invested an enormous amount of money on obtain services of foreign advisors and procure equipment.

The military said that during the short-lived UNP-LTTE honeymoon, the government had allowed foreigners unhindered access to the LTTE-held territory. Sources said that the LTTE had exploited the lethargic attitude on the part of the then government to bring in foreign advisors.

We recently revealed (September 4, 2009) how a group of Japanese experts, who had arrived in the Vanni after the tsunami, helped the LTTE to launch a special project to launch submersibles. Sources said this transpired during interrogation of an important LTTE cadre now in custody. The Sunday Island learns that the Japanese embassy has raised this with the Sri Lankan government. Although, the embassy had not been aware of clandestine links between Japanese nationals and the LTTE, had they bothered to check on persons who had visited the Vanni after the tsunami in December 2004 culprits could be identified, sources said.