ABSTRACT
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) brutally waged a 33-year-long guerrilla war against the government of Sri Lanka, seeking to fulfill their objective of creating an independent Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern portions of Sri Lanka. In late 1972, radical young members of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) split off to form a militant group known as the Tamil New Tigers, the precursor to the LTTE. Violence between the LTTE and Sri Lankan government continued throughout the 1990s, until the government and LTTE agreed to a ceasefire in late December 2001. Savvy to popular and involuntary collection methods, the Tigers were also astute at siphoning off money from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities, and even the social service and the welfare systems of Western countries. LTTE annual income estimates vary extensively depending on the source; however, even the most conservative estimates indicate that this organization was probably one of the wealthiest terrorist organizations in the world.
