40 years ago, November 9, 1986: Swoop on Tamil militants

In a surprise swoop at dawn, the Tamil Nadu police rounded up hundreds of Sri Lankan militants in the city and in 15 camps all over the state. A large quantity of unlicensed arms was seized.

Residences and offices of five militant group leaders in the city, and their camps in the districts were searched by the police. The leaders were arrested. (Archive)

2 min readNov 9, 2026 06:15 AM IST First published on: Nov 9, 2026 at 06:15 AM IST

In a surprise swoop at dawn, the Tamil Nadu police rounded up hundreds of Sri Lankan militants in the city and in 15 camps all over the state. A large quantity of unlicensed arms was seized. Residences and offices of five militant group leaders in the city, and their camps in the districts were searched by the police. The leaders were arrested.

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