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Feb 06th
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Home National News Armed foreign vessel case sent to court

Armed foreign vessel case sent to court

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The Attorney General office has announced that the case of the armed foreign vessel has been submitted to court. The incident had occurred in May this year when a Sri Lankan vessel, purportedly belonging to Tamil Tigers, had entered Maldivian waters and had fired shots at a Maldivian fishing vessel.

Deputy to the Attorney General, Ahmed Mohamed, said that the investigation on the case is now completed and that Police had sent the case over to the Attorney office last Tuesday.

“After investigating the case, it has now been submitted to the court,” said Ahmed Mohamed. “The case was sent to court on Thursday.”

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abdullah Riyaz, said that the investigation details on the case would be revealed next week. The five foreign men apprehended from the vessel are still being kept under Maldivian Police custody. One of the five men is an Indian citizen who speaks Malayalam, while the others speak Tamil.

Police had earlier said that the foreign vessel was registered in India under the name of ‘Krishna’.

South Asian news agencies say that the foreign armed vessel was an Indian fishing vessel hijacked by Tamil Tigers to smuggle arms into northeast Sri Lanka in their armed struggle against the Sri Lankan government for establishment of a separate state in Sri Lanka’s northeast for Tamils.

The foreign vessel was sunk by the Maldivian Coastguard after the foreign crew members had refused to stop the vessel when ordered to do so by the coastguard.