THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is learnt to have decided to take over the investigation into the Iranian vessel intercepted by security officials here recently.
According to sources, the NIA officials would be collecting pieces of evidence gathered so far by the state police by the next week.
The satellite phone and other items recovered from the vessel would also be collected. The NIA has already had the details of the case and would be registering a fresh one.
The police probe had almost come to a standstill after it was found that calls were made to foreign countries using the satellite phone recovered from the vessel.
“It would be easier for a national agency to look into the source and destinations of the calls made using the satellite phone. Then only a clear idea about their intentions would emerge,” said city police commissioner H. Venkatesh.
Though it was found that five of the 12 people on board the vessel were from Pakistani province of Baluchistan and the remaining from the Iranian territory, so far the embassies of these countries had not given any information.
“We had informed the embassies through the proper channel about the arrest of the 12. But we have not yet received any response,” said Fort assistant commissioner R. Sudhakaran Pillai.
