Preliminary investigation into the identity of the fishing vessel, which was intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard off the Kerala coast on Saturday and handed over to the City police on Sunday, has thrown up more questions than answers.
Official sources said it was the discovery of a photocopy of a Pakistani identity card on the vessel that triggered doubts over the nationalities of the 12 persons on board the vessel. The owner of the identity card was not on board. At the same time, another person, who claimed to be an Iran national, had an identity card which indicated that he was from Baluchistan in Pakistan. There were similar incongruities surrounding most of the crew.
The vessel had on board a minor cargo of high-value perfumes, suspected to be smuggled. The fishing equipment comprising a few nets showed no indications of being used recently. The crew explained that their engines had been stalled for the last 20 days and that they were drifting. Officials also doubt the claim that the vessel had set sail from Kalat in Iran, with no indications, as of now, of any known port there.
City Police Commissioner H. Venkatesh, who said some of the crew spoke ‘broken Hindi’, indicated that most of the crew were from Baluchistan, though they claimed otherwise. “They are claiming that they are fishermen, but we have doubts,” he said.
The boat, which reached near the Vizhinjam harbour early on Sunday, waited for some time before being towed into the harbour by a towing vessel of the Fisheries Department. Officials of the Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence, State Intelligence officials and the top rung of the City police were present.
