Sri Lankan Tamil stranded boat seized with 17 kg gold, 2 held

Five Sri Lankan Tamils carrying 17 kg of gold they had smuggled from the island nation, landed off the coast here in a fibreglass boat and escaped, police said. They left behind one gold weighing machine in the vessel, Two others, who planned to go back to Sri Lanka from Madurai in the same boat were nabbed by Coast Guard personnel off Dhanushkodi coast The Coast Guard personnel seized from the duo GPS, power Bank equipment, nine mobile phones, each worth Rs 80,000, three gold chains, and a U.S. 100 Dollar note, police said.

The two, during questioning, claimed that they belong to Madurai district in Tamil Nadu and that they had come from Lanka earlier, officials said. They said investigations were on to ascertain whether the duo had dropped any person in Lanka or taken any refugee from here to the island nation and returned.

(With inputs from agencies.)