37 Trinco Tamil civilians arrested along Mannar coast

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 21:16 GMT]
Thirty seven members of seven Tamil families were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Sunday morning when they were waiting for a boat along the coast of Talaimannar in Mannar district to flee to South India to seek refugee. All of them have been residents of Trincomalee. After preliminary investigation the SLN authorities handed them to Talaimannar Police for further action.

Talaimannar Police Monday morning produced these people in Mannar magistrate's court. T.J.Pirapaharan, Additional Mannar Magistrate ordered the release of these civilians and directed the court registrar to hand over these civilians to the civil authority for resettlement, legal sources said.

Meanwhile Mr.Pirapaharan ordered seven boatmen who were arrested earlier and remanded for transporting Sri Lankan Tamils to South India to pay of fine of Rupees 100/= each, legal sources said.