Last month, the Ministry of Home Affairs had ordered NIA to take over the probe into the cases registered at the Kollam East and Pallithottam police stations. The case registered at Pallithottam has 13 accused persons while the one at Kollam East has 11. The cases pertain to the police intercepting two batches of Sri Lankan nationals from the Vadi Harbour and the Ambadi Lodge, Beach Road, in Kollam district on September 5 and 6 in 2022.

The Sri Lankan nationals had planned to sail to Canada for which they had contacted several fishing vessel operators. The 24 persons arrested, including two children, had arrived in Kollam from refugee camps in Nagapattinam, Vellore, Chennai, Thiruvenlveli, Trichirapalli and Dindigul. Some of them had arrived from Sri Lanka and stayed in Tamil Nadu before moving to Kollam, after paying money to agents.

They were later granted bail by the Kerala High Court, and some continued to stay at rehabilitation centres in Kerala while some were sent back to the refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. However, NIA decided to take over the probe on the suspicion of LTTE involvement.

In recent months, NIA has launched probes into multiple human trafficking incidents in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

“It is suspected that people associated with LTTE are coordinating the trafficking attempts. NIA had arrested some persons from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu who maintained close contacts with former LTTE members,” a police officer said.

DM