The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted searches at Trichy (Tiruchirappalli) special camp in Tamil Nadu where foreigners with criminal records are lodged, the agency said.

The raids are being carried out since morning and the NIA sleuths are learnt to have taken the assistance of state police in the operation.

The camp houses over 100 inmates from Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, South Korea, Russia, UK, Bangladesh and Kenya who were involved in several criminal cases and arrested under IPC and Foreigners Act, 1946.

They will be kept in a special camp until their trial is over and they are released.

The special camp is maintained by the district revenue authorities with security provided by the Tamil Nadu special police battalion, Trichy.

It may be recalled that a Bulgarian national, who was an inmate of the special camp for foreigners at Trichy central prison, escaped from the premises in September last year, and a 31-year-old Nigerian national had escaped from the camp in July 2019. (ANI)