Sri Lanka deports arrested Indian journalist

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Press Trust of India Colombo
Last Updated : Dec 28 2013 | 8:10 PM IST
An Indian journalist, arrested in Sri Lanka while filming a military installation in a former LTTE stronghold, was deported today, an official said.
Thamil Prabakaran, a 24-year-old Tamil Nadu resident, was deported this evening, police spokesman Ajith Rohana said.
"He was sent back on the Chennai flight which left at 6.40 pm (local time)," Rohana said.
Prabakaran was earlier handed over to immigration authorities after being questioned by the police's Terrorism Investigation Division.
After the questioning, all the footage shot by Prabakaran was deleted. "As such there was no reason for him to be prosecuted," Rohana said.
Authorities claimed the arrest had thwarted a plot to "carry out disinformation against the country".
The man, purportedly attached to a Tamil Nadu publication, was arrested in the former LTTE nerve center of Kilinochchi in the north on Wednesday.
He had shot film of a military camp, a road and buildings devastated during the ethnic war. Police said Prabakaran had arrived in Sri Lanka on a tourist visa and had violated visa rules.
Local media described him as a LTTE sympathiser.
Kilinochchi was the administrative center of the Tamil rebels until January 2009, when Sri Lankan forces recaptured the city.

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First Published: Dec 28 2013 | 8:10 PM IST

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