The Hindu : National : Surveillance along Kerala coast

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 01, 2004

National

National

Surveillance along Kerala coast

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 30. The Kerala State police and the Coast Guard have stepped up surveillance along the Kerala coast following an intelligence report that foreign nationals staying at a lodge here were likely to be picked up by a ship off the coast of Vizhinjam.

A senior police official said the surveillance was strengthened after 48 foreign nationals, including 37 Sri Lankans and 11 Nepalis, were found staying in the lodge at Valiathura on April 28. The intelligence report said that Sri Lankan and Nepali nationals were likely to be shipped to some foreign countries.

Officials have questioned Ravi Chandran, a Sri Lankan national, who had brought the group to Kerala. The Sri Lankan and Nepali nationals had arrived on valid passports and visas. Their entry was cleared by the Emigration Department at the International Airport here. "Prima facie, there is nothing illegal about their arrival or stay in the city. But police are verifying whether the foreign nationals were brought here by those supplying cheap labour in the form of illegal emigrants to foreign countries," a senior official said.

The city police have asked the Sri Lankan nationals to leave the country at the earliest. However, a bilateral agreement between India and Nepal allows Nepali citizens to stay indefinitely in the country. But police would monitor their movements till they leave.

The surveillance, which started on April 28, continued for the third day today. A Dornier reconnaissance aircraft from the Coast Guard station at Kochi today surveyed the coastline from Kochi to Kanyakumari, a Coast Guard official said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National