SLN arrests returning Sri Lankan Tamil refugees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2003, 16:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy Saturday arrested 21 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and 2 boatmen transporting them from Tamilnadu in South India to Mannar, and the Mannar Magistrate, Mr. N M.M.Abdulla, remanded the boatmen and directed the resettlement of the refugees, legal sources said.

One of the boatmen is a Sri Lankan Tamil who is a resident of Pesalai. The other boatman is an Indian, police said.

The 21 Sri Lanka Tamil refugees are natives of Pesalai, a fishing hamlet in the Mannar district. They fled to Tamilnadu in the 1995 violence, sources said.

The Magistrate further instructed civil officials to make arrangement to resettle the 21 refugees in their villages, court sources said.

The boatmen were remanded till October 5, legal sources said.

Meanwhile, five persons including an Indian citizen who were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy when they were proceeding in a boat towards South India, are to be produced before Mannar Magistrate Monday from remand, court sources said.