New Delhi
The Mumbai police on Wednesday arrested three persons originally from Tamil Nadu, for entering India illegally a day after they reached the metropolis on a boat from Kuwait, an official said. The boat with the trio on board was anchored at the Gateway of India on Tuesday. He said that Prima facie, nothing suspicious was found on the boat. The boat was spotted off the Mumbai coast during patrolling on Tuesday morning, a police official said.
After the boat was found, a case was registered against them by the Colaba police here, the official said. ‘The police arrested them after filing a case under section 3 (a) with penal section 6 (a) of the Passport (Entry into India) Rules for not following the due procedures required for entering India,’ he added.
According to the official, the trio had gone to Kuwait two years back for work. They were allegedly ill-treated by their agent who took them to Kuwait following which they escaped from there. Further investigation into the case was on, he said. The incident has raised concerns over potential maritime security lapses.
Notably, 10 Pakistani terrorists who launched a terror strike in Mumbai in November 2008 had arrived by the sea route. The terror attacks had claimed the lives of 166 individuals and left more than 300 people injured.
The Kuwaiti vessel, 30 meter long, coming undetected to Mumbai is a big lapse on the part of the Navy and Coast Guard, which regularly patrol the seas with aircraft, helicopters and sea vessels. Naval sources claimed that they had first stopped the vessel at Prongs Lighthouse and then alerted the police. However, DCP Latkar said it was the police who had stopped the vessel and alerted the Navy.
