Four plead guilty in U.S. to aiding Tamil Tigers

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. branch of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebel group and three other men have pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, prosecutors said, weeks after Sri Lanka declared victory in a 25-year civil war.

Karunakaran Kandasamy, Pratheepan Thavaraja, Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy and Vijayshanthar Patpanathan admitted on Tuesday at Brooklyn federal court conspiring to funnel money and arms to rebels in Sri Lanka.

The separatist guerrillas were defeated by Sri Lankan government forces last month and their reclusive leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed.

Prosecutors have said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) relied on expatriates to raise money, get weapons and spread propaganda.

To coordinate these activities, the Tigers established "branches" in at least 12 countries, including an office in the New York borough of Queens, they said.

They said Kandasamy oversaw the organization's activities and fund-raising and acted under the direction of senior Tamil leaders in Sri Lanka.

"Just weeks after the LTTE's leaders in Sri Lanka were defeated in that country, the leader of the LTTE in the United States and other LTTE supporters have been brought to justice," said U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell.

The men, who had previously pleaded innocent to the charges, had been due to go to trial in July.

Kandasamy and Pratheepan both face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Vinayagamoorthy and Patpanathan face a maximum sentence of 15 years.

In January, four men pleaded guilty to conspiring to buy equipment, including guided anti-aircraft missiles, for the Tamil Tigers, also in Brooklyn federal court.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Michelle Nichols)