Police detain five-member Rohingya family

Police on Tuesday took a five-member Rohingya family into custody in Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram.

The family comprising a 36-year-old man, his wife, 29, their two younger brothers and six-month-old child had arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday morning.

The family is in possession of identity cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. A police official in Vizhinjam told DH that they arrived in the city from Hyderabad.

“The family had moved from New Delhi to Hyderabad and from there, to Thiruvananthapuram. They came to Vizhinjam because they were told that they could find work in the ongoing seaport project,” the official said.

Till late evening, members of the family were being questioned by officials of the state intelligence.

“The interrogation is still on. They have the refugee cards and this is standard procedure but a decision regarding their return will only be taken later,” the police official said.

Last week, the Railway Protection Force had intimated officials in Kerala and Tamil Nadu about the mass movement of Rohingya families to Kerala.

During his recent visit to Kerala, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had also spoken about the Rohingya’s reported southward movement.

Over the last year, an estimated 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to escape violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.