KOCHI: Unfamiliarity with the Persian and Balochi languages is turning out to be a major challenge for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the case related to the recent interception of an Iranian vessel off the Alappuzha coast, with Iran and Pakistan nationals on board.
The NIA, which took over the investigation of the case from the State Police, is looking for Indian citizens who are familiar with Iranian and Balochi languages for translating statements of the 12 persons taken into custody from the vessel. The NIA officials recently approached universities in the State for a translator who can assist them in recording statement of the crew members.
“There are Iranian students studying in universities here. We require a translator who is an Indian citizen. We have identified a few persons through the internet. Since no one has come forward yet, we have passed information to the other NIA centres about the requirement of translators Currently, we are trying to find translators in Iran itself,” said an NIA official.
According to him, statements of some of the persons accused in the case have not been recorded yet due to the language barrier. Only the statements of Shahzad Baloch and Quasim Baloch, who know Hindi, have been recorded yet. The FIR was registered based on their confession. The 12 crew members were arrested from the vessel on July 4. The police also recovered a Pakistani identity card and satellite phone from the vessel. The forensic examination showed that calls were made to several countries, including Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.