Bengaluru, Aug 6: As many as 38 Sri Lankan nationals, who were in judicial custody in Mangaluru, have been shifted to the city’s Parappana Agrahara Prison by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). “In June, we had detained as many as 38 Sri Lankan nationals for illegally staying in Mangaluru. Later, they were taken into judicial custody and were imprisoned in the Mangaluru district prison. On the orders from the jurisdictional NIA court in Bengaluru, the Sri Lankan nationals have now been shifted to Parpanna Agrahara prison in Bengaluru on Wednesday,” Mangaluru DCP (Law and Order) Hariram Shankar told UNI. The NIA had taken over the case from Mangaluru police on July 24 in which two detainees were found to have had links with the LTTE. On June 11, these foreign nationals were detained by Mangaluru police for illegally staying in the country and later taken into judicial custody. They had entered Tamil Nadu illegally from Sri Lanka and were illegally staying in Mangaluru since May and they claimed themselves to be daily wage workers and fishermen from Tamil Nadu, the DCP said. The Sri Lankan nationals had paid six to ten lakh Sri Lankan rupees to an agent in Sri Lanka who promised them jobs in Canada. They reached Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi in a boat. From there they had planned to reach a port and travel to Canada in private boats and cargo ships, Shankar said. “However, the Sri Lankan nationals were shifted to Mangaluru for some days due to elections in Tamil Nadu which saw heavy police ‘bandobast’. They had also traveled to Bengaluru in private buses and had met an agent,” the DCP said. There were 39 Sri Lankans, out of which 38 were detained and taken into judicial custody. The police are tracking the 39th Sri Lankan national who had returned to Sri Lanka. The police had filed a case under IPC human trafficking, cheating, Passport Act 1967, Foreigners Act 1945 and Foreigners Order 1948. The police are also making efforts to trace the agents and logistic providers in giving them an entry into the country and shelter.
