Police raid Lankan refugee camps in Tuticorin

By Ananth Palakidnar

Special police teams carried out lightning search operations at several refugee camps sheltering Sri Lankan refugees in Tuticorin on Friday, reports from Chennai said.

Several hundred policemen led by Deputy Inspector General Christopher Nelson carried out the search operation at the refugee camps which housed Lankan Tamil refugees. Policemen interrogated suspicious persons and carried out the head count in every camp wherever the search was done.

The belongings of the refugees were also thoroughly checked by the police teams and they were severely warned not to get involved in covert activities and allow the LTTE suspects to infiltrate into the camps, reports said. Around two-thousand refugees are sheltered at Ramdas Nagar, Thappathi and Kulathuvaipatti camps in the Tutticorin area.

The search operations at the Lankan refugee camps were carried out following the recent arrests of three LTTE suspects who were hiding in refugee camps.