2 detained at Chennai airport for illegal travel to Yemen

CHENNAI: Two passengers from Sharjah who visited Yemen were detained by the police at the Chennai airport on Sunday.

Yemen and Libya are countries blacklisted by the Union Government in 2014, and Indians are prohibited from travelling there due to security reasons.

The immigration officials, while scanning the documents of Sujan (50) of Kerala and Susai Raja (52) of Kancheepuram who returned from Sharjah, found they had visited Yemen and stayed there for a few months. Subsequently, both were detained at the airport.

During the inquiry, they said they went to work as construction workers in Sharjah but since they were not able to find suitable work, they decided to go to Yemen.

They added that they were not aware of the prohibition laid down by the Indian government.

After several hours of inquiry, the Q-Branch police and the immigration officials handed them over to the airport police.

A case has been registered and further inquiry is on.