A Sri Lankan national having suspected links with banned terrorist organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was detained by intelligence and airport authorities in Pune in India's Maharashtra State on Thursday morning.

The detained foreigner was supposed to board a flight for Frankfurt, before he was picked up, Daily News Analysis reported.

Though Maharashtra had never been a target for LTTE, the police are probing the purpose of LTTE's former operative in the state and the reason for his visit to Frankfurt.

The detained person has been identified as Suthan Suppiah.

According to police sources, on receipt of specific information, Intelligence Bureau and CISF officials detained a Sri Lankan who was boarding a Luftansa flight for Frankfurt on Thursday. "During interrogation, he said that he had worked for LTTE and his passport and visa are forged. His passport name is Marimuthuraju. We are verifying these claims of his. We are also probing why the foreigner was in Pune and for what reason he wanted to visit Frankfurt," said an intelligence officer.

The foreign national is presently being interrogated at Viman Nagar police station in Pune.

Maharashtra has seen a few arrests of former LTTE operatives after the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009.

In March 2011, a Sri Lankan national with suspected links with LTTE was arrested by officers of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). The arrested person, Rajan Silithuriya alias Rajan alias Kartik, was residing in Navi Mumbai for the past four years, sources said.

In May 2013, Mumbai crime branch had arrested a 35-year old Theva Satesh Kumar, an electronics engineer from Sri Lanka and an operative of LTTE, while he was planning to catch a flight for Nairobi.

(With inputs from Daily News Analysis)