The four young Canadian men arrested on suspicion of conspiring to buy weapons on behalf of the Tamil Tigers told security officials they were going to a bachelor party in Buffalo, N.Y. when they arrived at the U.S. border last week.

One of the men then took a taxi home after he was turned away because of his criminal record.

The four men were in fact planning to buy $900,000 US worth of weaponry from arms dealers in New York City, according to a U.S. indictment unsealed in New York.

Their alleged plan was to expedite the weapons to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam -- commonly known as the Tamil Tigers -- who have been waging a battle for a separate homeland for two decades.

However, the arms dealers they were dealing with were actually under-cover agents working for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The suspects, most of them professionals in their mid-20s, walked into a major sting operation that began more than a year ago and spanned ten countries, including Canada.

Three of the men were arrested in New York on Friday, while the fourth was arrested at his family home in Kitchener, Ont., on Monday.

"The cooperation of law enforcement agencies around the world was vital and our work with the RCMP was especially important," FBI special agent Leslie Wiser told CTV's Canada AM Wednesday.

"We believe these individuals are very important players in the Tamil Tigers. By arresting them, we think we've had a significant effect on their ability to raise funds."

Charges of conspiring to buy weapons

Canadians Suresh Sriskandarajah, Sathajhan Sarachandran, Sahilal Sabaratnam, and Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam face charges of conspiring to buy weapons to help the Tamil Tigers in their escalating conflict in Sri Lanka.

American authorities allege Sarachandran, Sabaratnam, and Thanigasalam travelled to New York from Canada to try to buy missiles, launchers and AK-47s.

The fourth man, Suresh Sriskandarajah, 26, was arrested in Canada on a provisional warrant and will likely face an extradition hearing, said RCMP Sgt. Michele Paradis.

The former University of Waterloo engineering student is charged with conspiring to provide material support and resources to the Tamil Tigers.

Police would only say the arrest took place in southern Ontario, although Sriskandarajah appeared Tuesday in a court in Kitchener, Ont., where he's scheduled to appear again Friday.

Nick Devlin, a lawyer with the federal Justice Department, confirmed Sriskandarajah was arrested without incident on Monday.

However, Devlin added that he couldn't comment further because of a publication ban on the details of the allegations.

"There's certainly a summary of the allegations in what we've already put before the judge and that's what can't be printed at the moment,'' said Devlin.

He said the U.S. would now be expected to make a formal request for extradition, "which would include a summary of all the evidence'' against Sriskandarajah.

David Poopalapillai of the Canadian Tamil Congress, said the arrests had "shocked the entire community."

In a statement released Tuesday, Poopalapillai said the allegations "do not serve the community well and are counterintuitive to the Tamil Canadian thought process. "

"We are extremely concerned about this issue and are closely monitoring the situation," he added.

More arrests

In a related sting, the FBI also arrested five American Tamils this week on suspicion of trying to bribe U.S. State Department officials into lifting the terrorist ban on the Tamil Tigers.

The charges against the men also include fundraising and money laundering through "front" charitable organizations and U.S. bank accounts.

In addition to weapons and fundraising charges, complaints unsealed in U.S District Court in Brooklyn allege the men tried to obtain classified information and bribe U.S. public officials to remove the group's terrorist designation.

Six of the nine Canadians and Americans charged appeared in court Monday and were ordered held without bail.

As many as 65,000 people have been killed in the Tamil Tigers' two-decade war with the Sri Lankan government.

A ceasefire was brokered in 2002 to end the bloodshed, but both sides have since returned to fighting, with some of the fiercest violence occurring this year.

The Tamil Tigers are considered a terrorist organization by Canada and the United States.

Canada added the Tamil Tigers to its official list of terrorist organizations in April. The U.S. added the group to its own list in 1997.