Sri Lankan authorities claimed today said they were interrogating the new head of the Tamil Tigers, their most-wanted target since crushing the separatist rebels and their 25-year insurrection in May.
There were no details on where Selvarajah Pathmanathan, the man who ran the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) lucrative arms and smuggling operations for decades, was arrested.
Mr Pathmanathan is the public face of the LTTE's post-war remnants and the highest-ranking Tiger still alive, after troops killed LTTE founder Vellupillai Prabhakaran in the war's cataclysmic final battle on the northeastern coast on May 18.
"He is in custody in Colombo and is being questioned," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, who declined to say where he had been arrested.
The fact that Pathmanathan was in Sri Lankan custody helped push the Colombo Stock Exchange to its highest level in more than 14 months, gaining 0.7 percent in the first 90 minutes of trade.
Late yesterday, Mr Nanayakkara had said Mr Pathmanathan - wanted on two Interpol warrants and better known by his nickname KP - was picked up in Thailand.
But Thailand's prime minister said he had information Mr Pathmanathan had been arrested, but not in Thailand.
The LTTE, in an emailed statement, said he had been arrested by Malaysian intelligence officers on Wednesday, but Malaysian authorities denied that.
Reuters