Wanted criminal lands in police dragnet

Chennai, Jun 27 (UNI) A criminal, who had been evading arrest for the last several years, was arrested by the immigration authorites at the Anna International airport here when he arrived from Dubai via Colombo.

Airport sources said Muthuvel (45), hailing from Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, was arrested last night when he arrived by a Sri Lankan Airways flight from Colombo.

Several criminal cases have been pending against him since 2001 at Ramanathapuram and the district police had sent his photographs to all the airports to prevent him from fleeing the country.

Muthuvel, who had fled to Dubai in 2005, had stayed there for three years and returned to Chennai last night via Colombo, when the immigration authorities found that he was a wanted criminal and arrested him.

He was later handed over to the airport police, who have conveyed the arrest to the Ramanathapuram police. A special team from Ramanathapuram was on the way to the city to take him into custody.

UNI XR-GV JT AS1357