By IANS

London : The leader of a breakaway faction of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, known as 'Colonel' Karuna, has been arrested in Britain for travelling on a forged passport.

The arrest took place Friday following a joint operation the London Police and the Border and Immigration Agency launched, a Home Office statement said.

The statement said that Karuna was being held in an immigration detention centre.

Karuna, whose real name is Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, broke away from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in March 2004, taking away thousands of cadres in the island's east.

The LTTE crushed his rebellion the next month. Since then, Karuna has functioned closely with Sri Lankan military authorities to take on his former comrades in the LTTE.