Chennai, March 8 (IANS) Six Sri Lankan refugees who were trying to escape illegally to the island nation were arrested by the elite ‘Q’ branch of the Tamil Nadu police.
The refugees had left their refugee camp a few days before and were staying in Velankanni.
In a statement on Wednesday, police said that the six refugees were identified as Kanujan(34), Jennibaraj(23), Bhuvaneswari (41), Satheeshwaran (34), Dinesh(18) and Dushyanthan (43).
Acting on a tip-off, the police raided the hotel where they were staying in Velankanni and arrested them. On interrogation, they revealed that they had paid an amount of Rs 17 lakhs for being transported to Lanka illegally in a power boat.
The arrested also said that the power boat belongs to a person called Selvam from Mayiladuthurai district. Police found Rs 17 lakh from Selvam and confiscated his boat.
Selvam and the six arrested Sri Lankan nationals are being interrogated in the custody of ‘Q’ branch police.
Highly placed sources in the Tamil Nadu police headquarters told IANS that a detailed investigation is being conducted to ascertain the motive behind the escape to the island nation paying such a huge amount of money. It is to be noted that Sri Lanka is reeling under an economic crisis and the decision of the migrant labourers to go back to the Island nation needs to be investigated in a detailed manner.
A senior officer of the aQ’ branch police while speaking to IANS from Chennai said, “We have acted on a specific tip-off and arrested the six Sri Lankan refugees as well as the boat owner who had taken Rs 17 lakhs to transport these six persons illegally to Lanka.”
–IANS
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