A senior Tamil Tiger rebel, described by many as the Sri Lankan separatist group's money man, has been arrested in Thailand, the Bangkok Post has reported.
Kumaran Pathmanadan, the third-in-command of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and described as the finance chief, was arrested in the capital, Bangkok, on Monday.
Pathmanadan, also known as KP, has been on Interpol's most wanted list for a number of years. He has been implicated in several assassinations.
His arrest followed the detention last month in Thailand of three Tamil Tiger operatives trying to buy guns and 45,000 rounds of ammunition.
Police have searched for Pathmanadan, who had a number of aliases, in Johannesburg, Rangoon, Singapore and Bangkok.
Police said they believed he had bank accounts in London, Frankfurt, Denmark, Athens and Australia and has more than 200 passports.
His group is suspected of running weapons bought in Thailand and neighbouring countries to the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. The Tigers have been designated a "terrorist" group by most Western countries, but not Thailand.
'Devastating blow'
Jehan Perera, of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, described his arrest as a "devastating blow" for the Tigers.
Perera told Al Jazeera that the LTTE would sorely miss Pathmanadan since money from abroad for the group was routed through him.
The LTTE has been fighting government forces since the early 1980s, seeking to carve out a separate homeland for the ethnic Tamils. About 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict to date.