REFUGEE

The migrant smuggling ship intercepted off the West Coast carrying 76 Sri Lankan men is owned by the outlawed Tamil Tigers and previously smuggled weapons from North Korea to Sri Lanka, says an international expert on South Asia terrorism.

It's feared the ship may be the first wave of defeated Tamil Tiger fighters fleeing for safe haven after the end of Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war, says another security expert.

Canada hosts the largest population of Sri Lankan Tamils outside of Sri Lanka, and has long been a key support base for the Tigers, on Canada's list of terrorist organizations.

In a radio interview with ABC News in Australia on Saturday, Singapore-based Rohan Gunaratna said the Ocean Lady is a rebel freighter belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the separatist guerrillas known as the Tamil Tigers.

"It is now clear that it is a Tamil Tiger-owned and -operated ship," said Gunaratna, who heads Singapore's International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.

The Sri Lankan native has authored several books on the country's civil war that ended in May, with the government defeating the Tigers.

"Certainly, not all ships that are transporting people are managed by terrorists, but in the case of the Ocean Lady, it is a Tamil Tiger ship that had been used in the past to smuggle weapons from North Korea to Sri Lanka," said Gunaratna.

The ship was intercepted off Vancouver Island on Oct. 16 by the RCMP, the Canadian Forces and Canada Border Service Agency.

The Canadian Tamil Congress says the men are all ethnic Tamils fleeing persecution. But Gunaratna said "a number of individuals" have been identified as suspected Tigers, though he didn't elaborate.

His comments follow reports that one passenger has been identified as a 26-year-old man wanted by Sri Lanka for terrorism. It's not clear if he is the same man apparently found with the logo of the Tigers tattooed on his body.

The men are being held in Maple Ridge, B.C., and began appearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board last week. One passenger with relatives in Canada was reportedly ordered released from custody. The others remain in custody pending interviews with border officials. Those freed are expected to make refugee claims.