The Marine police of the Coastal Security Group (CSG) have made surprise checks at ‘Muyal theevu’ and ‘Appa theevu’, the uninhabited islets in the Gulf of Mannar region as part of its scheme to check smuggling activities in the Palk Bay.
After launching the surprise check at ‘Muyal theevu’ on November 4, the Marine police made a joint operation with the Mandapam station of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and inspected the Appa theevu, south of Mandapam on Wednesday. Giving details of the surprise checks, Superintendent of Police, CSG, R Sakthivel said the checks would continue to contain the smuggling activities in the region. “We propose to visit the second and third islets, the smugglers’ landing points located in close proximity to Talaimannar in the coming days,” he said. Led by Additional Superintendent of Police Vijay Baskar and Inspector of Police P. S. Ramesh Kumar, a 15-member Marine police team conducted inspection at Muyal theevu and spent the whole day, looking for traces of smuggling activities, he said. The team reached the islet in 12 tonne and four tonne capacity boats and combed the islet after splitting into two batches, he said.
In the joint operation undertaken in ICG Hovercraft on Wednesday, the SP led the Marine police and conducted checks at Appa theevu, he said. The ICG personnel were led by Vijay, Junior Grade Commander. After reaching the islet, located 25 nautical miles away from Mandapam, they split into two teams and combed the islet, he added. The teams found that some cooking had taken place near the anti poacher shed in the islet but there were no traces, indicating the movement of smugglers or no signs of concealing contraband in the sand, he said. “We will step up the vigil and continue to carry out the surprise checks in coordination with ICG,” Mr. Sakthivel said.
The ICG also would be launching night patrolling to keep vigil on the islets, used by smugglers as transit points to conceal the contraband before smuggling them to Sri Lanka, he said. The Marine police also decided to shift one of the two boats from Mandapam to Kilakarai jetty for stepping up patrolling in the area.
Meanwhile, the CSG took possession of the naval detachment at Thondi after the Navy handed over the facilities, he said. The CSG has already moved two of its boats from Devipattinam to Thondi, he added.
