Four ‘undocumented’ Indian crew members of an Iran-bound merchant ship have been rescued by immigration officials during a check after it docked here and its captain arrested on charges of trying to hide them, police said on Sunday. The four crew members, including one from Tamil Nadu, were found kept hidden in the engine room of the Panama-registered crude oil carrier “Rise Dignity” when immigration officials searched the vessel yesterday reportedly after a tip-off by a relative of one of them, they said. The vessel with 40 crew members, including the four Indians, arrived at the port on its voyage from Dubai in United Arab Emirates to Iran.
Captain of the ship Pavan Kumar, who allegedly did not include the names of four in the list of crew members and tried to hide them from Immigration officials, had been arrested, the police said. R Prakash of Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, A Suresh Kumar from Andhra Pradesh, Thejos Pukkot from Kerala and Punit from Uttar Pradesh were rescued and handed over to the Harbour Police and later allowed to go (to home towns), according to police.