Kochi: The Kerala Police has handed over four boxes containing the weapons used by the Italian naval personnel, who are accused of killing two Indian fishermen, to the Kollam magistrate.
The boxes were recovered by the police from the Italian ship, Enrica Lexie, and will now be sent for forensic investigations.
Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court, hearing a petition for compensation for the families of the victims, said that the Enrica Lexie will have to stay in port for another evening.
The weapons that were submitted were recovered during the search of the Italian Ship by Special Investigation Team on Saturday night. The search was conducted to trace the firearms used by two marines, who allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen, even as it seized several weapons during the operation.
"We have seized many weapons and we will zero in the right weapons after the ballistic examination," a police official had said. The search was conducted in the presence of a 10-member Italian delegation, including two ballistic experts who were flown in from Rome on Saturday morning.
Italian Consul General Giampaolo Cuttillo was also present during the search along with his country's ballistic experts Major Flebus Luca and Major Fratini Paolo.
The SIT of Kerala police began the search around Saturday noon with forensic and fingerprint experts also on board the vessel berthed.
The two arrested marines - Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone - have been charged with murder in connection with the killing of the Indian fishermen on February 15.
The weapons used by the six marine security personnel on board have been seized and would be sent to Thiruvananthapuram forensic laboratory, Kochi commissioner MR Ajith Kumar, heading the SIT, had said.
Besides Kumar, Kollam Police commissioner, Debesh Kumar Behera, along with a team of police officers were present on board the tanker during the search.
(With Additional Inputs from PTI)
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