FUNDRAISERS for a terrorist organisation are intimidating residents into handing over money, it has been claimed.

A former senior manager at the Walthamstow-based Tamil Housing Association says collection gangs regularly visit members of the borough's Tamil community on behalf of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers.

The Tamil Tigers are thought to be the first group to use suicide bombers against civilians and military targets in the bitter struggle for independence from Sri Lanka.

The LTTE was banned in the UK under the Terrorism Act 2001.

Rajasingham Jayadevan, who works with refugees struggling to come to terms with the trauma caused by the conflict, says there is a highly organised network of LTTE sympathisers in Waltham Forest and across London who sanction and co-ordinate fundraising activities. He says gangs often threaten violence until residents hand over cash, which is filtered through legitimate businesses and on to the LTTE.

He told the Guardian: "There are different programmes and people responsible for different areas and the problem is ongoing and widespread. They have stepped up their efforts because now it is more difficult to collect funds. Some people, who are struggling with money, are refusing.

"They use the electoral roll. It is not difficult to find Tamil names. They are very active on Fridays and at weekends when they know people are at home."

Mr Jayadevan says they are using new tactics to maintain the revenue stream.

He said: "They now have a four-page document which promises a donation and they force people to fill it out. This will then be stored on a computer and accessed when it comes to calculating the level of funds.

"The amount depends on the timing of activities, but it can be up to £20,000. At the beginning of the year a decision was made to go for a final push' and they were regularly demanding over £5,000 and collected a lot of money before the police became aware."

International civil liberties organisation Human Rights Watch published a report into the activities of LTTE collection gangs in London and Canada earlier this year.

It found that most Tamils were reluctant to report the practice to the authorities for fear of reprisals, while those who had informed the police felt they were not taken seriously.

Phillip Perry, a former Metropolitan Police Inspector who was tackling the issue when the report was compiled, admitted progress has been hindered by an apparent reluctance to report the problem.

He said: "All we do is get one or two of the Tamil community (to give us intelligence), but all of the victims, without exception, are too intimidated to make reports.", so what we end up with is intelligence without solid evidence."