Kayak adventurer Sandra Helen Robson from Western Australia, who was near Pulicat lake on Sunday during the course of a global expedition, was stopped by fishermen and turned over to the police on grounds of suspicion.
Though she was released by the police after enquiries, she has halted her expedition temporarily and stayed on in Pulicat, angered at the treatment meted out to her.
Ms. Robson is trying to retrace the German canoeist Oskar Speck’s expedition (1932-39) from Germany to Australia over a distance of 50,000 km. She has been on the Speck Expedition trail since May 2011 and hopes to finish it by 2016, cutting Speck’s expedition time by two years.
Her plans were delayed by a day on Sunday after a group of fishermen belonging to Sambasupalli Kuppam in Pulicat stopped and took her to Thirupalayvanam Police station.
Speaking about the incident, a police official said Ms. Sandra had reached Pulicat on Saturday night and was on her way to Andhra Pradesh via Sriharikota on Sunday afternoon when the group detained her. They took her to the police station for verification.
‘Acting as per advice’A senior police official of Thiruvallur District said that the fishermen were only acting as per advice given to them by the police to be cautious about any unknown persons in the waters.
