Police taking Sri Lankan tamils to Tamil Nadu

A group of Sri Lankan nationals picked up last week from a lodge here for staying in the country without valid travel documents, are being taken to a refugee camp in Tamil Nadu after completion of detailed questioning, police said today.

Police and Intelligence Bureau officials, who questioned them since Friday last, did not find them having any terrorist links, they said.

A member of the group, Dennis alias Kumar was arrested on May 9 after he was found to have links with a local travel firm allegedly engaged in human trafficking.

The firm had offered to transport 38 Lankan Tamils, including five women and as many children, to Australia, sources said.

While some of them arrived here through the sea route from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, others reached by flight through Kochi, the officials said.

The women and children were allowed to remain in the lodge while the men were taken to a police station for questioning and examination of travel documents.

They were being transferred to the refugee camp in Rameswaram, police said.

Police have registered a case of human trafficking against six persons including Dennis but the other five members of a local gang, allegedly involved in the case, have not yet been arrested.