Loganathan Sabanayagam
Alleged to be one of six original founding members,[1] Loganathan Sabanayagam was the leader of the Tamil Tigers in Canada[2] and a document forger. After his arrest, Canada was forced to update the security measures on its passports.[3]
Known by the alias Maran, he was a cousin to Velupillai Prabhakaran.[4]
He was arrested in 1992, following an investigative report in the Toronto Star uncovered his forgery ring, after police dismissed a phone call from cleaning staff in December 1991 alerting them that forgery tools had been found in his apartment.[5] Reporters Dale Brazao and Paul Watson went to meet the cleaning staff, and gathered the evidence while posing as prospective tenants.[5]
Sabanayagam's partner in the forgery ring, Santhakumar Kumarasamy, was arrested in 1990 and was the first Canadian ever convicted of passport fraud,[6] but died in prison prior to Sabanayagam's charges being laid.[4]
Sabanayagam, whom prosecutors argued tried to "subvert the sovereignty" of Canada,[5] pleaded guilty to forgery and was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment followed by 18 months released on probation.[4][5] He appeared at his bail hearing wearing a Tamil Tigers shirt.[7]
References
- ↑ Bowen, Fred. Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 4 January 1996 interview for Issue Paper: Sri Lanka
- ↑ Equipe de Recherche sur le Terrorisme et l'Antiterrorisme, Les principaux acteurs et la structure des TLET
- ↑ The Sri Lanka Monitor February 9, 1994
- 1 2 3 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Sri Lanka Alien Smuggling, May 1996
- 1 2 3 4 Toronto Star, "Passport forger jailed after insulting Canada", February 9, 1994
- ↑ The Toronto Star 19 Dec. 1991
- ↑ Bell, Stewart. "Cold Terror", 2005