The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted a raid at a special camp located in Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) on Wednesday, July 20. The raids began on Tuesday morning and the NIA officials were assisted by the state police in the operation. According to reports, the searches are in connection with the seizure of nearly 300 kilograms of heroin, five AK-47 rifles, and 1,000 live rounds of 9 mm ammunition by the Indian Coast Guard during their routine patrolling near the Vizhinjam coast in Kerala in March 2021. During the seizure last year, six Sri Lankan nationals had been arrested and the case was then transferred to the NIA. Similar searches were conducted in Tamil Nadu and Kerala as well.
The special camp where the NIA carried out raids on Wednesday is a special camp which houses foreign nationals who have been booked or have criminal records. Reports say the people housed in this camp are those who have been arrested under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Foreigners Act, 1946 and they will be detained there until trials in the cases are completed. The special camp is maintained by the district revenue authorities with security provided by the Tamil Nadu special police battalion in Trichy.
According to a report by ANI, this has over 100 people, from various countries like Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, South Korea, Russia, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh and Kenya. In September last year, a Bulgarian national named Ilian Zdravkov Markov had escaped from the camp. In July 2019, a Nigerian national identified as Stephen Paul had escaped from the camp as well and was caught by the police a few days later.
(With ANI inputs)