Indian court remands human trafficking kingpin'

The Intelligence wing and the police are quizzing the kingpin of the human trafficking racket that tried to illegally transport Sri Lankan Tamils to Australia from Kerala in a fishing boat.

“The person was interrogated to check whether people were transported for any terrorism activity. He was trafficking the Sri Lankans in a similar manner for the past several years,” an official said.

The police said the accused Senthuran, a Sri Lankan native, is the prime accused in the case. He was arrested by the Kochi city police from Chengalpettu in Chennai. He was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate on Tuesday. Magistrate B. Vijayan remanded the accused in police custody for three days.

The case pertains to an attempt to transport 17 Sri Lankan Tamils illegally to Australia from Kerala, in a fishing boat. The police detained them from a lodge at Ernakulam South on June 7 last year. After quizzing them, evidence was found against Senthuran. The victims confessed that Senthuran had taken Rs.30,000 to 1 lakh from each of them.

Sources informed that the interrogation of the accused by the intelligence wing and police officials will continue till January 20. The police had earlier arrested Murukanandan, Shivam Pillai, Nagaranjan and Kaneshalingam of Sri Lanka in the case. (Source: Topix)