The Italian tanker, Enrica Lexie , which was involved in the killing of two Indian fishermen, has been brought to the Cochin Oil Terminal on Friday morning to enable the law enforcement agencies to carry out search operations.
A court in Kollam had permitted the police to seize the arms allegedly used in the firing by the Italian marines and also accepted the request of the Italians seeking presence of their representatives during the ballistic examination of the weapons on board.
The Italian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Staffan de Mistura, had said that the ballistic examination should be done in their presence. According to port officials, the Marine Department had brought the vessel back to the oil terminal at 9 a.m.
It will be brought back to the outer channel once the investigations are over. The shifting of the vessel to the terminal from the outer sea has not affected the functioning of the terminal, as there are no POL vessels waiting at the outer anchorage of the port, the officials said.
According to senior police officers, the Special Investigation Team of the Police will carry out a search on the vessel on Saturday in the presence of ballistic experts from Italy.
A team of two technical officers from Carabinieri, the Italian police, is expected to reach Kochi on Saturday morning. > sajeevkumar@thehindu.co.in