Thai national Aung Soe who went missing from the Harbour police station here is suspected to have crossed the national border from Nagaland.
The police team which went to the north-eastern state failed to trace him and they suspect that he might have crossed the border.
30-year-old Soe had been living in Harbour police station for 17 months after he was rescued by the Navy from Somali pirates.
But he went missing in July.
The Cyber Cell had traced his cell phone signals from Nagaland.
But later they could not receive signals from his mobile phone.
“He might have switched off phone and crossed the border. We have informed Nagaland police to hand over him if they could trace him. The people in the border areas are permitted to travel up to two kilometres across the border to a town in Myanmar. He might have escaped through this way,” a police official said.
The officials at the Harbour police station believe that Soe took the decision to cross the border after the state attempts for his deportation failed to see any result.
“He had purchased a world map a few weeks before he was found missing. He would travel to Thailand from Myanmar to meet his family members,” officials said.
The police are looking for a worker who was close to Soe during his stay in Kochi. But he is also missing now. “He is the only person who can provide any information about Soe” the police officials said.
The fishing vessel Prantalay, in which Soe was a worker, was hijacked by Somali pirates in April, 2011. In December, 2011 he was rescued by the Navy. Since then he was staying in Harbour police station. He could not be sent back to Thailand as he had no documents to prove the citizenship.
Born in Myanmar, he had migrated to Thailand