Indian police arrest Lankan, seize one million USD

Marine Police of Coastal Security Group (CSG) on Wednesday arrested A. Arul Jayarathinam alias Rajan (41), the suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militant, who was detained by Indian Coast Guard (ICG) for illegal entry into the country.

Marine Police arrested him under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, read with Sections 3 (a) and 6 (a) of the Passport (Entry into India) Rules, 1950. He was produced before Rameswaram Magistrate Court and taken to Chennai to be remanded in judicial custody in Puzhal Central Prison.

The police said Rajan was in possession of one million US dollars, a mobile phone, baby oil and some children’s dresses. The US dollars and other properties seized from him were handed to the court, the police said.

He was detained by Mandapam Station of the ICG after he clandestinely landed at the Third Islet in the Gulf of Mannar National Park on Monday night. Interrogation by the Marine and Q Branch police revealed that he had served in the mechanical division of the LTTE from 1996 to 1998 before leaving the militant group. He faced six to seven cases ain Sri Lanka and was acquitted in all the cases, he told the officials. He however, feared threat to his life by the Lankan armed forces and arrived here clandestinely to stay with his sister living in Muthupettai near Pudumadam in the district. His sister, who arrived here as a refugee, had been residing here for more than nine years, the police said.

Rajan hailed from Mulliavalai town in Mullaitivu district in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, the police said, adding he had come to India, leaving behind his mother, wife and four children, including three daughters. After he ‘settled down’ here, his wife and children planned to visit him. (Hindu)