Tamil Tiger rebels have acknowledged their new leader has been arrested in Malaysia and handed over to the Sri Lankan military, AP reported. The group says in a statement Friday that Selvarasa Pathmanathan was captured near a hotel Wednesday by the Malaysian Royal Intelligence Corps. Sri Lanka's military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara says Pathmanathan was brought to Sri Lanka and is being questioned. Pathmanathan has been sought by Interpol for smuggling arms for the Tamil Tigers. He took over as the rebel chief after the group's defeat in May and the death of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Soon after Pathmanathan said the group would use nonviolent means to seek an independent state for the island's ethnic Tamil minority. -- SPA