Turkish national lands in Rameswaram by boat through Jaffna

A Turkish national who landed on the Rameswaram coast on an illegal ferry from Sri Lanka was arrested by Ramanathapuram district police on Saturday night, the Times of India reported.

 Mahir Devrin, 43, claimed that he had reached India while on a journey across countries since fleeing Turkey where he was hounded for being a dissenter. He was arrested under the Indian Passport Act and Foreigners Act and produced before a judicial magistrate at Tiruvadanai on Sunday. The process of lodging him in Puzhal central prison, Chennai was under way.

During investigations, Devrin claimed to have fled his country due to a threat to his life. He managed to reach Rameswaram with the help of a Sri Lankan fisherman in Jaffna on a fibre boat after paying him Rs 25,000. Although the police believe that he did not come to India with any nefarious intentions, the incident is a wakeup call for security agencies given the ease with which he reached the shore evading them, the report claimed.

Police said that a team from Jetty station arrested Mahir Devrin as soon as he reached Serankottai coast near Rameswaram jetty. Various items including a tablet, debit card, passport, mobile phone and bank passbook wer eseized from him.