Twenty-eight people were arrested in a series of pre-dawn raids in Naples, Genoa, Bologna and Sicily suspected of membership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and of providing funding for the group, Antonio Sbordone, an official with the police counter-terrorism cell in Naples who coordinated the raids, said.
In a separate police operation, another five Tamils were detained in Palermo, Sicily, also on suspicion of belonging to LTTE.
In addition to being charged with membership of a proscribed organisation, the 33 are also accused of having helped finance the Tamil Tigers through remittances.
It is alleged the money was obtained through extortion of other Tamils. Italian media reported that the annual amount was around four million euros ($6.2 million).
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