Haniffa Bin Osman, 55, of Singapore, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and money laundering.
“Osman is the third defendant to plead guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, and three defendants have pleaded guilty to attempting to illegally export arms,” Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said.
From April to Sept. 29, 2006, Osman conspired with Haji Subandi and Erick Wotulo to provide state-of-the-art firearms, machine guns and ammunition; surface to air missiles; night vision goggles; and other military weapons to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, know as the Tamil Tigers, operating within Sri Lanka, to be used to fight against Sri Lankan government forces, prosecutors said.
Founded in 1976, the Tamil Tigers has advocated the violent overthrow of the Sri Lankan government, employing acts of violence, including suicide bombings, against both civilian and military targets. Approximately 200 such attacks have been attributed to the Tamil Tigers to date, prosecutors said.
