Thiruvananthapuram: A 30-year-old Sri Lankan national was arrested on Sunday (May 5) in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram for not possessing valid travel documents. 

Maluge Juth Selfon Dias was arrested from the Thampanoor bus terminal in the city on Sunday night.

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An investigating officer said, "We have brought in translators from Sri Lankan Airlines to initiate conversation with the man, but he has not disclosed anything yet. As of now, he has been taken to Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu as part of investigation and will be produced before the magistrate today itself."

Maluge Dias told the investigators that his bag, carrying the passport, visa and other documents, had been stolen during the journey.

However, he did not give any clear answer as to how he had reached Kerala.

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"The Intelligence Bureau (IB) and other officials from national agencies have interrogated him," a police official said, adding the man claimed that he had reached Kerala on February 20.

The arrest of the Sri Lankan man assumes significance in the wake of reports about the alleged visit of the perpetrators of the recent blasts that had rocked Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

Sri Lanka's $4.4 billion tourism industry is reeling following the terrorist attacks that left more than 250 people dead, with travellers cancelling their holidays en masse.

Sri Lanka Army's chief Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake had revealed in a recent interview that some of the suicide bombers who carried out the country's worst terror attack on Easter Sunday visited Kashmir and Kerala for "some sort of training" or to "make some more links" with other foreign outfits.

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Nine suicide bombers, including a woman, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels on April 21, killing over 250 people and injuring more than 500 others.

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