THOOTHUKUDI
Indian Coast Guard has detained four boats including two boats from Thoothukudi and two more fish crafts from Sri Lanka with 14 persons when they tried to smuggle 3.70 tonnes of beedi leaves to the island nation.
When the Indian Coast Guard Ship ‘Vajra’ was patrolling along the Gulf of Mannar area on Monday, it spotted four fishing boats moving in a suspicious manner 60 nautical miles off the coast of Tiruchendur. As the ship reached the spot after warning the boats to stop, they found that beedi leaves smuggled in two boats by eight crew from Thoothukudi were being loaded in two boats from Sri Lanka with six persons.
Besides detaining the boats with 3.70 tonnes of beedi leaves, the Coast Guard personnel picked up all the 14 involved in the smuggling. They, along with the beedi leaves and the boats, were brought to VOC Port, Thoothukudi on Tuesday.
After grilling the detained persons, the Coast Guard officials handed over the boats with beedi leaf bundles and the smugglers to Coastal Security Group police for further interrogation.
“We’ll get the names of the smugglers and all other relevant details only after interrogating them,” sources in the Coastal Security Group said.
