Sri Lanka arrests former female rebel

Sri Lankan police arrested a former top female Tamil Tiger leader who headed a naval unit of the rebels, the police said on Tuesday.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said the women's wing leader was arrested at Colombo's main international airport while she was about to leave the country.

Rohana said the Terrorist Investigations Division (TID) of the police had launched investigations over reports that Murugesu Bairahi had arrived in Sri Lanka.

The 41-year-old was arrested by the TID when she was preparing to leave for France.

According to the police, Murugesu Bairahi was heading the women 's wing of the Tamil Tiger Sea Tiger unit from 1997 to 2000 and in 2005 she had fled to France.

Investigations revealed that she had returned to Sri Lanka last month and was staying in Paranthan in the North of Sri Lanka, the police said.

The police spokesman said the former LTTE member had been detained for 72 hours to be questioned by the TID.

The Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated in May 2009 after 30 years of war in which thousands were killed.