Captured gunmen returned for trial

Press, 9 November 1988, Page 11

Captured gunmen returned for trial

NZPA-Reuter Male India is returning for trial captured Tamil mercenaries and rebels who tried to topple the Maldives Government and is pursuing another ship that may be carrying fleeing gunmen.

Maldivian security sources said 65 coup plotters are due to arrive in Male aboard an Indian warship instead of the 46 that India at first had said surrendered aboard the hijacked freighter Progress Light on Sunday. The vessel sank on Monday after having earlier been hit by Indian gunfire. But the Indian High Commissioner, Arun Banerjee, said another suspicious ship that had left Male about the time of the coup was being tailed by the Indian Navy towards the southern tip of India. The Press Trust of India quoted Indian naval sources as saying 100 mercenaries could be aboard the small vessel. But Mr Banerjee said he did not know whether it was carrying more mercenaries fleeing after Indian troops helped put down a coup attempt in the Indian Ocean republic of 200,000 people.

"There is nothing definite but a boat has been sighted near Cape Comorin that is being kept under surveillance,” he said. He was speaking just a few hours after the Progress Light sank in the Indian Ocean as it was being brought back to Male. The ship was damaged by fire from Indian troops as it tried to slip out of Male waters just after the first Indian paratroopers landed in the islands last Thursday. Mercenaries holding hostages aboard the damaged and listing vessel surrendered on Sunday after Indian warships, fired warning shots. Four hostages were found dead aboard the freighter and three are missing. A further 15, including the Maldives Transport and Shipping Minister, Ahmed Mujuthaba, are in a south Indian hospital suffering wounds.