Police to search Italian vessel, diplomatic talks continue

A police team is set to search vessel Enrica Lexie for weapons tomorrow as Italians held diplomatic talks with Indian authorities about the two marines who are in police custody for the alleged murder of two fishermen. [caption id=“attachment_224572” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The Kochi police will search the vessel for the weapons used to shoot the fishermen. PTI”]  [/caption] “We are happy because Italian experts will be allowed in the probe. This will allow for transparency,”  Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan De Mistura said after meeting with officials from the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. The Italian Foreign Ministry is to arrive in India on Tuesday, he said. “We are concerned about our military personnel and also the Indian fishermen, we feel sorrow for them,” Mistura said. Kerala police officials said they will carry out a search of the Italian vessel tomorrow in the presence of Italian officials. “We expect by tomorrow we will be able to search the ship in the presence of the two ballistic experts from Italy,” Kochi Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar, who is heading the SIT, told reporters in Kochi. The Italian government has requested the presence of their technical experts during the search, seizure and examination, he said. When asked if the two arrested marines, Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, will also be taken to the ship during the search, Kumar refused to comment. Italian Consul General in India, Giampaolo Cutillo, who was also present with the police official, said a team of two technical officers is expected to reach Kochi by tomorrow morning. “We will have two highly technical officials. They are presently in the Indian embassy in Rome applying for visa. There is no direct flight (to Kochi) from Rome. As soon as they get the visa, hopefully they will be here by tomorrow morning,” Cutillo said. A court in Kollam, had permitted the police to seize the weapons and accepted the Italians’ plea seeking presence of their representatives during the search and ballistic examination. The Italian government was happy that the marines, presently in police custody, were being treated “very well,” he said. Italy will cooperate with the investigation, he said. Meanwhile, the ship which had been berthed at the out of port area is being brought to the oil terminal today for enabling the search operations. Two Italian naval guards have been charged with murder of the fishermen killed in firing from the ship off the Kollam coast on February 15. The Italians have maintained that they opened fire after mistaking the fishermen onboard the boat to be pirates. with inputs from PTI