By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

A group of Indian nationals who were illegally running an IT based firm in Colombo 7 with just a visit visa to remain in Sri Lanka were taken into custody by the Department of Immigration and Emigration yesterday.   

The officials of the department’s Investigation Division following an inquiry raided a house in Cinnamon Gardens and took seven males and one female who were in their thirties.   

A senior detective from the division told the Daily Mirror that all the foreigners had arrived in the country on visit visa and two of them were found to have overstayed their 14 day visa period.   

The arrested female was reportedly the wife of one of the other seven suspects.   

Preliminary inquiries revealed that the group had rented a house in Cinnamon Gardens to carry out their IT company and the authorities are conducting further investigations to determine what kind of work they actually performed in Sri Lanka.   

The immigration authorities are making preparations to remove the arrested group in due course once their removal paperwork is done with return air ticketing.   

According to the local immigration law it is illegal to engage in any form of work under a visit visa, the officials said.