Police have foiled an attempt to illegally ferry six Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to Australia and detained all of them for questioning.
An intensive search had been launched to arrest another Sri Lankan refugee Jana, who allegedly acted as an agent and agreed to ferry the refugees clandestinely to Australia.
Police said they raided a house at Periyakalapet village on August 2 on a tip off from people that some persons gathered at a house were moving about in a suspicious manner and detained the six refugees, including a five-year-old boy.
All of them are from different refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.
Police said two of the refugees revealed during questioning they had paid between Rs 50,000 and Rs l lakh to Jana to take them to Australia. Relatives of others would pay him the amount after they reached that country, they said.
Police said a case has been registered against Jana under IPC Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).