Three onboard suspicious boat near Mumbai coast arrested, accused hail from Tamil Nadu

The boat was apprehended by Mumbai Police officials. Pic/Sources via Faisal Tandel

Mumbai Police arrested three persons in the case of a suspicious boat found near Gateway of India, officials said on Thursday, reported news agency ANI.

The accused have been identified as Infant Vijay Vinod Antony (29), Nediso Ditto (31) and J Sahaya Antony (29), reported ANI.

As per the police, all three accused are fishermen hailing from Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari.

The accused were earlier remanded to police custody till February 10, reported ANI.

The police requested for custody to probe the trio's travel route, potential criminal activities in international territory, and any threats to national and global security.

Although police maintain that no immediate evidence of wrongdoing was found onboard the vessel, the circumstances raised red flags regarding potential maritime security breaches.

The trio's lawyer, Sunil Pandey, asserted their innocence, stating they had fled from their employer in Kuwait who had taken away their passports and mistreated them, reported PTI.

According to officials, Mumbai Police launched a probe after a fishing boat was suspiciously found roaming near the Mumbai coast on Tuesday.

The police said that during interrogation, the arrested accused claimed to have travelled to Kuwait to undertake fishing work at a place owned by a person named Abdullah Mohammed Abdul Rahman Al Sarhid, reported ANI.

According to the officials, the accused further claimed that they were not paid their salaries in the last two years while working in Kuwait. They alleged that their passports and Visas were taken away from them and were not given food on time, reported ANI.

They also alleged physical assault while in Kuwait, the police said.

As per the police, the three accused 'ran away' from Kuwait via a fishing boat and reached Mumbai coast in 10 days by sailing from Kuwait through Iran, Saudi, Qatar, and Dubai border, reported ANI.

The accused also claimed that they were stopped by the police when they reached Qatar and they were released after they said they were travelling to India, the officials added.

Apart from the Mumbai police, a team of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Navy Intelligence have reached the Colaba police station in Mumbai to investigate the matter, reported ANI.

According to police, a suspicious boat named "Abdullah Sharif" was found roaming near the Gateway of India by the police deployed on the boat of Yellowgate Police Station while they were patrolling in the sea, reported ANI.

The police informed the Navy and then seized the boat.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)