Police in Germany say they have arrested six people suspected of raising funds for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatists.

The German and Sri Lankan nationals aged between 22 and 58 were arrested on Wednesday in raids on eight premises including the Tamil Coordination Committee (TCC) in Oberhausen near Essen, federal prosecutors said.

The TCC raises money, sometimes through blackmail, from Tamils living in Germany which is then passed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. Both the European Union and the United States classify the Tamil Tiger rebels as a terrorist organisation.