KOCHI: The special investigation team probing the suspected illegal migration from Munambam took another person into custody from Delhi on Monday. The development comes even as the officials suspect the destination of the group was not Australia, but New Zealand.
Ravi, reportedly a native of Tamil Nadu, was nabbed from Ambedkar Nagar colony by the special police team which has been conducting an investigation in Delhi for the last few days. He was brought to Kochi late in the night for interrogation.
Officials also suspect that Ravi was part of the group that sailed out from Munambam but was unable to join them.
Meanwhile, officials with the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Naval Intelligence and Q Branch, Tamil Nadu police, quizzed the two suspects, Prabhu Dandapani and Anilkumar, in connection with the case at the camp office of district police chief, Ernakulam rural, on Monday.
Mr Rahul R. Nair, superintendent of police and district police chief, Ernakulam rural, told DC that more arrests will be made and more persons will be taken into custody in the coming days. "The local police investigation is on the right track, and we will soon nab more persons behind the incident," he said. "The agencies are here for taking additional information from the suspects as the magnitude of the case is high. They will be here on Tuesday also," he said.
It was for the first time the local police were able to collect so much details in such a case, he said. "It was our police team that nabbed Prabhu Dandapani from Delhi and Anilkumar from Coimbatore," he said.
Sources said that the destination of the group that sailed out from Munambam the other day was likely to be New Zealand. "During interrogation, Prabhu revealed that around 110 people had sailed out in the boat Daya Matha II and that New Zealand was the destination. But it cannot be officially confirmed unless they reach the place or are caught by the Navy or Coast Guard," an official source said.
Police said that Daya Matha II is a spacious boat in which a maximum of 120 persons can travel.
The officials have confirmed that alerts have been sent to countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and every possible destination, including Australia and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, the probe team also suspects Sreekanthan, a resident of Thiruvallur near Chennai, leaving the country with the group for New Zealand on January 12. Sreekanthan is one of the two persons to have brought the boat on which the group had left.
