Defence Ministry removes two including Emil Kanthan from terrorism blacklist
The Ministry of Defence has removed the names of two individuals including former LTTE activist Emil Kanthan, who had been blacklisted for their involvement in terrorism-related activities, from the list of designated persons, groups and entities.
As such, the designations of Niklapillai Antony Emil Lakshmi Kanthan alias ‘Ramesh’ and Murugesu Sri Shanmugaraja were lifted.
This was announced in a special gazette notification, dated October 16, 2023, published by Defence Secretary, General (Retd.) Kamal Gunaratne.
Emil Kanthan and Shanmugaraja, who hail from Vavuniya and Jaffna, respectively, were officially blacklisted on February 25, 2014.
In 2010, Interpol issued a Red Notice on Emil Kanthan who was the North and Eastern Provinces Financial Head of the now-defunct terror group LTTE. He was also an accused in the case filed against the misappropriation of funds amounting to Rs. 200 million from the Reconstruction & Development Agency (RADA) but was discharged in 2020.
