RAMANATHAPURAM: Seven people, including a Sri Lankan Tamil couple, were arrested near Thangachimadam area in Ramanathapuram on Wednesday in connection with smuggling Lankan immigrants in India back to the island nation. In this case, the Lankan couple had reached out to those involved in smuggling immigrants, said the police.
The Thangachimadam police said a patrolling team had come across seven people standing near the Thangachimadam bus stand in the wee hours of Wednesday. The team found them suspicious and took them in for questioning. It was then revealed five of the seven were involved in smuggling immigrants into Sri Lanka.
The accused were identified as R Santhi (47) and her husband R Rajeswaran (52) of Vavuniya in Sri Lanka, Vinoth Kumar of Chennai, and Saifullah, Naina Mohammed, Naveen Imran, and Ruthuppar Rahman of Rameswaram. The couple had arrived in India in 2017 by flight and was put up at the special camp in Puzhal in Chennai, said the police. Recently, they decided to return to Sri Lanka, and approached Kumar to ferry them through the sea. The couple had paid him a sum of `2.5 lakh, added the police.
Through Kumar, Rajeswaran got in touch with Imran of Vedalai area. The couple arrived in Rameswaram a couple of days ago. On Wednesday, they planned on executing their travel from Thangachimadam to Vavuniya in Sri Lanka in a country boat, said police.