by Bridget Webber

Created on: April 20, 2009

Out of all the modern day pirates roaming the seas the very last that you could wish to stumble across are the Sea Tigers. They are a division of the Tamil Tigers, who since their founding in 1976 have been fighting to obtain an independent Tamil state. The Tamil Tigers, otherwise known as the LTTE which stands for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, are a violent terrorist insurgence group, said to have up to 10,000 armed combatants in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil Tigers use overtly illegal methods while attempting to reach their goals, including forcing children to join them as recruits, and killing their parents should an objection be raised. They are also known for using female recruits as suicide bombers and for inventing the deadly suicide belt.

Branching into piracy has been a natural progression for the Tigers. It fulfils many of their objectives and supplies them with phantom ships to use which they have previously hijacked such as the Jordanian vessel 'Fara 111'. This cargo ship was travelling from India to south Africa, laden with rice before being attacked by the Sea Tigers.

Other ships on humanitarian missions have also been struck down by the Tigers, proving their ruthless and merciless disposition as they prevent food from reaching starving civilians.

The Sea Tigers don't just follow their main objective when engaging in violent acts and committing atrocities. They are known to veer off of the political path and follow one of drug smuggling. They co-operate with other criminal societies too, such as the Chinese Triads and the mafia from both Italy and Russia, making them a force to be reckoned with.

The pirate faction of the Tamil Tigers are described as being, an 'amphibious warfare unit', and are thought to be working on adding a mini submarine to their other vessels used in acts of piracy, so that they can travel unnoticed by the Sri Lanken authorities who have been attempting to stop them.

The authorities have been successfully using blockades and attacking the Tiger camps for the last few years. In February 2009 local news stations reported that they had managed to kill the head of the Sea Tigers, Colonel Soosai, although this doesn't seem to have slowed the Tigers down in any way.

Unlike other pirates the Sea Tigers generally murder the crew of vessels they take, whether they attempt to resist them or not. Bloodshed is common place and violence an acceptable preoccupation amongst them. As many of them were violently dragged from their homes as children by their predecessors while witnessing the murder of their parents, it is no wonder that they have developed a way of life which lacks humanity.

For the moment it certainly looks like the Tamil Tigers days of piracy are set to multiply. The Sri Lanken authorities continue to battle against them but the Tigers are not bred to back down. With the force of other criminal gangs of notoriety behind them, and with a set goal in front of them, the Tigers are set to roam the seas and plunder for a long time.

Sources: http://www.slembassyusa.org

http://www.martinfrost

http://www.answers.com

http://www.mackenzieinstitute.com

http://www.lankaweb.com

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