Indian Coast Guard detains three Sri Lankan nationals

MADURAI: The Indian Coast Guard detained three Sri Lankan nationals for trespassing into the country’s territorial waters on Monday night. Investigations revealed that the three men trespassed into the Indian waters for smuggling some items to their country.
The ICG patrol ship found a fibre boat 20 nautical miles off the Thondi coast in Tamil Nadu. ICG personnel inspected the boat and found that the three men aboard were Sri Lankans.
They were detained with their boat and brought to Mandapam Coast Guard Station on Tuesday morning and handed over to marine police for onward legal proceedings.
The trio have been identified as R Niroshan, 34, of Nedunkulam near Columbuthurai, T Balaramesh, 37, and P Pulaykumar, 44 of Thalayadi in Jaffna.
The Sri Lankans told the marine police that they had been waiting for some smugglers from Manalmelkudi in Pudukottai district. They were assigned to collect the contrabands and take them to Sri Lanka.
Marine police filed a case against them. They were produced before a Rameswaram court and remanded in judicial custody.
Marine police sources said the three men would be lodged in the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai.