Tamil Nadu Police on Friday arrested 33 persons (eight crew members and 25 security guards) on board Seaman Guard Ohio, a ship owned by a US-based company, on charges of trespassing into Indian territorial waters last Saturday. A release issued by the Director General of Police on Friday said police arrested the crew and passengers on board the ship following a complaint by the Assistant Commandant, Indian Coast Guard, Tootukudi.
The crew and passengers were arrested on charges like Arms Act 1959, Essential Commodities Act 1955, Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel (prevention of malpractices in supply and distribution) Order 1990. “The vessel was found in the territorial waters of our country and was in possession of a huge quantity of arms and ammunitions without valid authorisation of documents. The said vessel had drawn illegally 1500 litre diesel from private sources in our land without following the laid down procedures,” said the release. The arrested persons have been remanded to judicial custody.
The police allowed two members of the crew including the captain in the ship for essential maintenance works. The entire arms and ammunitions (35 semi-automatic rifles and 5,680 rounds of ammunitions) were seized by the police.
The Tamil Nadu Police had entrusted the investigation with the Q Branch of the police, an elite wing dealing with acts of terrorism and extremism. The ship was inspected threadbare by the Q Branch sleuths since Wednesday morning and the crew were grilled for more than two days.
A senior official of the Tamil Nadu Police said the investigations would take weeks for completion.
“The ship should have carried with it the authorisation letter from concerned agencies for sailing in Indian territorial waters. The explanations given by the crew is not satisfactory,” said the official. What has literally surprised the police officials is the intransigent attitude of the crew.
“In this era of instant communications, video-conferencing and International Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT) with 24X7 dedicated channels of communication, it is shocking to observe that the crew and their bosses are trying to cover up something from the law enforcement agencies,” said the senior IPS officer.