Sri Lanka Navy anti arms smuggling operations

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The Anti arms smuggling operations launched by the Sri Lanka Navy between September 2006 and October 2007, were six successful interceptions in the Indian Ocean of rogue merchant ships that transported arms and ammunition to the LTTE.[1][2][3]

With the onset of the Eelam War IV the Sri Lanka Navy began intercepting LTTE arms shipments to Sri Lanka. In doing so, the navy destroyed 11 LTTE trawlers bringing artillery shells, mortar bombs and other military hardware into south of Mannar. Based on intelligence gathered from the sinking of the trawlers, the navy gathered that the source of the weapons were cargo vessels in Indonesian waters 3,000 kilometers away from Sri Lanka. The navy decided to take out these vessels that served the LTTE as floating armouries since stopping the trawlers carrying small quantities of military hardware became never-ending. Having gathered intelligence and carried out planning for nearly an year, the navy launched a deep sea operation starting in 2007. The initial few sorties were unsuccessful. However, with detailed intelligence analysis, the navy made a breakthrough by detecting the first LTTE floating armoury approximately 360 km south of Sri Lanka on 28 February 2007 and destroyed it. Two more ships were located and sunk on 18 March 2007, 1,400 km southeast of Sri Lanka close to Indonesia. The navy located three vessels and destroyed these on 10 and 11 September 2007 within the next 24 hours 3,000 km southeast of Sri Lanka close to Australia. The final ship was located and destroyed 7 October 2007, 2,900 km away from Sri Lanka close to Indonesia. The navy claims to have destroyed close to 10 million kg of military hardware including:

  • 80,000 shells for 152 mm and 130 mm artillery
  • Over 100,000 mortar bombs for 81 mm and 120 mm mortars
  • Three disassembled aircraft
  • Swimmer delivery vehicles
  • Jet skis
  • Diver delivery vehicles
  • Diving scooters
  • Torpedoes
  • Explosives
  • Electronics
  • Different capacities of outboard motors used by Sea Tiger attack crafts
  • Night vision equipment
  • Radar

The losses resulted in a major setback for the LTTE in the ground war.[4][5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The Man Behind The Naval Strategy
  2. ^ Sri Lankan Navy seizes rebel arms smuggling ship
  3. ^ Sri Lanka Navy Outlines Importance of Maritime Hub in Seminar Sessions
  4. ^ Wijayapala, Ranil. "Navy Chief assesses Navy's role in the Forces' successful campaign to eliminate LTTE terrorism". Daily News. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  5. ^ "LTTE Vessel with Arms &; Other Items Goes in Flames after Navy Intercepted". army.lk. Sri Lanka Army. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
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