New Delhi - Maritime surveillance is required in the Bay of Bengal where sea lanes are being used by terrorists to smuggle arms and drugs, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said at a regional summit in New Delhi Thursday.

Addressing a joint press briefing with the leaders of the BIMSTEC regional grouping nations, Rajapaksa said the issue was discussed at by the leaders of the member nations - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Terrorist groups were able to sustain themselves by illegal fund-raising, narcotics and people trafficking, money laundering, and arms and ammunition smuggling, Rajapaksa said. Much of these were through the sea routes in the Bay of Bengal, he added.

"I urge you to consider setting up of a mechanism to effectively police the seas of the Bay of Bengal, to deny these terrorists mobility and connectivity," he was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.

A joint declaration adopted at the end of the daylong summit said: "Recognising the threat that terrorism poses to peace, stability and economic progress in the region,
(we) emphasise the need for close cooperation in combating all forms of terrorism and transnational crimes."

The BIMSTEC leaders have finalized a convention on fighting international terrorism, trans-national organised crime and illicit drug trafficking and it is expected to be signed soon, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

Earlier, in his address at the summit, Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka believed that terrorist activities of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have to be dealt with militarily and any underlying causes, exploited by such outfits, should be addressed politically.

"For over two decades, Sri Lanka has been facing a tremendous challenge to our democratic way of life through barbaric actions of a terrorist group, the LTTE," PTI news agency quoted him as saying. "There is no doubt that such groups have to be dealt with militarily," he said. (dpa)