Melbourne: The Australian police on Tuesday arrested two suspected Tamil Tigers here on the charges of providing material support and funnelling money, collected from donors in the garb of a tsunami charity, to the Sri Lankan rebel outfit.

Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, 32, and Sivarajah Yathavan, 36, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates court. They are charged with intentionally being members of a terrorist organisation and providing support and making funds available to it.

The offences are alleged to have occurred between July 6, 2002 and May 1, 2007.

Commonwealth prosecutor Mark Dean SC said the defendants collected money in Australia that was sent through various channels in Asia to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), listed as a terrorist outfit by the Australian Government.

Mr. Dean also said the pair supported the organisation by providing electronic and marine equipment.

Further evidence

He said the authorities searched the men's homes where further evidence was obtained.

More information

Defence lawyer Rob Stary said more information on the nature of the charges the men faced was needed so that they could apply for bail.

The men were remanded to custody till July 24.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) Assistant Commissioner Frank Predergast told reporters that "tsunami relief appeals were used as a vehicle for some of the fundraising."

Two-year probe

Earlier, the AFP raided eight places in Melbourne and Sydney on Tuesday morning as part of a two year-old investigation into claims that charity groups were raising funds for the LTTE.

"I want to make it clear that these men were not involved in any possible attacks on Australian soil. The offences they have been charged with are activities which occurred in Australia supporting LTTE in Sri Lanka," Mr. Predergast said. — PTI

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