The Navy intercepted a vessel on September 4 morning carrying 26 passengers from a refugee camp in Rameshwaram, seven of whom were women and children, the Talaimannar police said on Monday.

The refugees were produced before Mannar Magistrate A. H. M. Abdullah on the same day by IP OIC Talaimannar N. E. Silva and released by the Magistrate.

Talaimannar police claimed that some of them had gone to the Mannar GA, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some of them have requested assistance to return to their homes.

The UNHCR has constantly held that conditions were not conducive for large scale repatrition despite the cease-fire agreement.

Talaimannar Police said that around 864 refugees had arrived on the Talaimannar shores across the Palk Straits by illegal means. (FS)