Twelve arrested in aluminium bars seizure case in TN

Chennai, Feb 23 (UNI) In all 12 people, including the kingpin, have been arrested in connection with the recent seizure of aluminium bars in Tamil Nadu.

Chennai City Police Commissioner Letika Saran today said one Kirubakaran was absconding, while 12 others, including the kingpin Karmegam, has been arrested.

About two tonnes of aluminium bars lying at a Madurai godown for smuggling to LTTE weapon factories in North Sri Lanka were seized and two people manning the godown, Selvaraj (44) and Gunasekara Pandian (22), were arrested.

This was the third such catch of metals meant for Tiger weapon factories. The aluminium bars were used for making rocket-launchers and other weapons needing light metal.

The Commissioner also revealed that apart from the arms and ammunitions seized from a LTTE sea vessel caught near Kodiakarai by the Coast Guard a few days ago, there was a huge cache of explosives in them and the ship was detonated in the high seas.

Citing the recent spate of seizures off the Rameshwaram coast, Ms Saran announced that the seafront surveillance had been strengthened with the deployment of 12 units of marine police, 12 outposts and 40 checkposts across the State.

The 1,076-km Tamil Nadu coast is considered too long and porous for monitoring.

UNI