More time to quiz Tigers suspects

The men are being questioned at Paddington Green police station

Detectives have been granted extra time to quiz three men arrested as part of an investigation into the Tamil Tigers.

Officers can now hold the men until next Tuesday. They are being held as part of a long-term investigation into the Sri Lankan-based group.

Two of the men, aged 39 and 46, were arrested in raids in Powys, Wales and a third, aged 33, in south-west London.

All three are being held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

They are being questioned at the high-security Paddington Green police station in central London.

The arrests were made during early-morning raids at residential and business addresses in Newtown in Powys, Mitcham in south-west London, and Harrow in north-west London on Tuesday.

Two charged

A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed on Wednesday the arrests were part of a long-term investigation into "alleged funding and procurement activity in support of terrorism overseas".

Two men from south London have already appeared in court charged with terror offences in connection with the investigation.

One is accused of arranging meetings of the Tamil Tigers and addressing an event in Hyde Park, central London.

He is also accused of amassing military equipment including machetes, combat boots, camouflage clothes, spades and handcuffs. He denies the offences.

In November, the leader of a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers, Colonel Karuna Amman, was arrested in a joint operation by British police and immigration officials.

No details have been released of where he was detained or whether Sri Lanka will begin extradition proceedings.

In Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers have fought for a generation for an independent state for the Tamil minority.

At least 70,000 people have died since the civil war began in 1983.