Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested for ferrying Eelam refugees to Sri Lanka

by Thusiyan
Jul 24, 2020

Two Tamil Nadu fishermen from Nagapattinam were arrested by the Q Branch Police for allegedly ferrying on a fibre boat two Eelam Tamil refugees from the state to Sri Lanka, The Hindu reported.

Balakrishnan and Thilakson were inmates of the refugee camps in Tiruchi and Kancheepuram respectively. They were arrested and interrogated by the Sri Lankan navy at Kankesanthurai harbour to whom they confessed that the fishermen ferried them in return for a INR25,000 payment.

Tamilvannan and Chanthiran, fishermen belonging to Seruthur in Nagapattinam, were arrested by the Q Branch based on information passed to them by the Sri Lankan Embassy.

The Sri Lankan navy recently announced it had "doubled" patrols in the Northern seas, claiming it had seen an increase in "illegal" crossings between the Palk Strait.

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