Claiming they were fishermen operating from Nachikuda area, they took refuge at the naval detachment by surrendering a fibreglass boat in which they travelled from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu coast.

They were identified as Jeyakumar Nesan (30), Gnanakumar Dheepan (19), Jeyarupan Prabhu (27) and Sivarupan Bhaskaran (17). They did not bring luggage or other materials with them raising suspicion about their claim. Besides naval officials, the State and Central intelligence agencies such as Intelligence Bureau, Special Branch, Q branch interrogated them to corroborate their claim.

Expressing suspicion over their claim, a police officer, who interrogated them, said it seemed that they had received weapons training with the LTTE. The police said it was not clear whether they were active members of the LTTE. They had to be thoroughly interrogated.