Maldives government spokesman Mohamed Hussein Sharif told BBC Tamil Service that one person, identified as Simon, is an Indian national probably from South Indian state of Kerala.
Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), together with the police are conducting investigations to verify the identities of other four people captured after sinking their boat, the spokesman said.
"We don't know for certain as yet whether it was a Sri Lankan trawler or whether the persons who are currently in the custody are Sri Lankans," he added.
Sri Lankan detectives
He confirmed that Sri Lankan detectives are also taking part in the investigations.
"The Sri Lankan authorities contacted our foreign ministry and they were given due permission to participate," Mohamed Hussein Sharif said.
Sharif who earlier suggested the arrested were Tamil Tigers told BBC Tamil Service on Sunday that Simon's allegations that other four are Sri Lankan Tamils led to speculations in the media.
Sri Lankan authorities were concerned after media reports that alleged they were LTTE members.
'Arms smuggling'
A Maldivian coastguard vessel has opened fire on a suspected boat and arrested five foreign nationals on board on Thursday.
"They were definitely intruding Maldivian waters but their motive is yet to be determined," the spokesman added.
The chief spokesman for the Maldives government Sharif said on Thursday that nearly 12-hour stand-off between its coastguard forces and the suspected rebel boat happened near an atoll, several hundred nautical miles south of the main archipelago.
He said it may have foiled an attempt by the rebels to smuggle arms to Sri Lanka.
The five people on board the boat were being questioned, the spokesman said.
The Tamil Tigers military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan has denied the rebels were involved in the incident.
Sea clashes
"We are not operating in that area," Ilanthiraiyan told the Reuters news agency from a rebel base in the north of Sri Lanka.
"These guys are not our people."
Earlier this month, a number of rebels were killed in a sea battle with the Sri Lankan navy off Sri Lanka's north-eastern coast.
The navy said it sank two Tamil Tiger boats, part of a flotilla of 26 rebel vessels, and killed at least 10 rebels.
The Tamil Tigers are fighting for an independent state in the north and east.
Clashes at sea and on land are now an almost daily occurrence. Both sides say they still respect the ceasefire and are responding to the other side's aggression.Source: BBC Sinhala
1 comment:
I'm sorry to say this but it's a necessary to give a "second thought" on what our government personnel says.. what's true and false lies beneath somewhere!!
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