The Kollam East Police took 11 Sri Lankan nationals into custody while they were planning to illegally migrate to Australia and Canada by boat.
Nine of them are refugees who stayed in Sri Lankan refugee camps in Trichy and Chennai. The other two had arrived in Chennai from Sri Lanka on tourist visas and joined the team.
Their arrests were recorded late on Monday night. They will be produced before the court on Tuesday.
They were taken into custody from Ambadi Hotel, Beach Road, East Kollam, on Monday morning in a joint operation by the Kollam City Police and Tamil Nadu Q Branch. According to police officials, they were planning to go to Australia and Canada by boat from Kollam.
Antony Kesavan and Pavithran – natives of Trincomalee in North Sri Lanka, arrived in Chennai on tourist visas on August 19. Later they were reported missing. Following this, the Q Branch began a probe
The police received information that the two had moved to Kollam along with nine other Sri Lankan refugees and were planning to go to Australia and Canada.
Following this, the Q Branch shared the information with the Kollam City Police Commissioner’s office. Based on the information, a joint operation was conducted by the Kollam City Police and the Q Branch in the morning. – The New Indian Express
