Chennai:
Eight people, arrested for allegedly kidnapping a British couple and demanding a ransom of Rs 2.58 crore, were today detained under the National Security Act.
The cops arrested the accused - Dharmalingam, Indra Antonysamy, Prabhu, Saravanan, Satheeshkumar, Vasanth, Mathiazahagan and Ilango - for allegedly kidnapping the couple, a police release said.
A case was registered against the eight accused based on a complaint on May 29 that the British nationals Thavaraja and his wife Salaja, who landed at the airport in Chennai from Colombo, went missing.
Later, police rescued the couple from a house at Mandarakuppam in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore district on June 1.
They were originally from Sri Lanka and had settled down in the UK and obtained citizenship.
Chennai Police had coordinated with Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard), London, and Serious Organised Crime Agency, United Kingdom, state and central intelligence agencies for the rescue operation.
The couple had arrived in Chennai to proceed to Tiruchirapalli, where they planned to join a tour operator and visit temples in the state for nine days.
Investigations revealed that the couple's daughter Dharshini, residing in London, received calls from unidentified men who claimed to have abducted her parents and sought a ransom of Rs 2.58 crore (UK pound 300,000).