In a suspected case of illegal immigration, the Kollam police have arrested a total of 24 persons, including Sri Lankan nationals, who were allegedly on their way to various destinations that include Canada, Australia and New Zealand. While eight men, four women and a child were taken into custody on Tuesday, the arrest of 11 others were recorded on Monday.
According to the police, they were apprehended as part of a large-scale operation. The searches were conducted following a tip-off from the Tamil Nadu Q Branch police.
“Among the arrested, 14 are Sri Lankan nationals and the rest refugees living in various camps in Tamil Nadu. Our primary conclusion is that they arrived in Kerala to leave for different foreign countries. We are looking for all the connecting evidence, including their local contacts,” District Police Chief Merin Joseph told The Hindu.
Reportedly, the kingpin of the human trafficking racket is a Colombo resident, and two of his agents were in Kollam to facilitate the trips. They were supposed to leave India in a fishing boat from Kollam and reach their respective destinations within 45 days. Each member had paid around ₹2.5 lakh to the agent and the plan was to ship the Sri Lankans from Kollam, the biggest fish landing centre in the State.
“They had paid the money to the agents of a person called Lakshmana. We are verifying the details. We are also trying to trace the boat in which they were planning to flee,” said Ms. Joseph.
Last month, two persons who arrived in Chennai from Sri Lanka on tourist visas and some refugees had gone missing. The Tamil Nadu Q Branch, which was investigating the case, had shared this information with the Kerala Police. The Kollam police had conducted raids in various hotels in the district and the first batch of Sri Lankan citizens were arrested from a hotel in the city.
According to the police, the Sri Lankan nationals arrived as different groups and checked in on Sunday. The police suspect that more persons are currently stationed in Kollam and neighbouring locations as they were expected to travel as a large group.
“Those in police custody have extensively travelled across the coast of Tamil Nadu. They have been to places such as Nagapattanam, Puducherry and Velankanni, halting at all the locations for a couple of days. So we cannot say which was their point of departure or if they had made any failed attempts earlier. We do not know for sure whether they would have left from here or not. But it is definitely a larger network and more people are involved,” said Ms. Joseph.
