Arms seized from Italian ship sent to forensic lab

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Arms seized from the Italian ship Enrica Lexie in connection with the killing of two Indian fishermen in firing by its naval guards on February 15, on Monday sent to a forensic laboratory for examination after being produced before the Magistrate court.

Two sealed boxes containing the fire arms, seized from the ship Enrica Lexie on February 25, were brought from Kochi by the police officials investigating the case and produced before First Class Judicial Magistrate Dony Thomas Verghese.

After the court officials tallied the list of items furnished by the investigators against the contents in the trunk boxes, they were ordered to be taken to the Government Forensic Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram.

Two Italian naval officials were also present when the boxes were produced in the court.

Though the details of the contents had not been revealed, court sources said they included Berretta ARX-160 guns.

Special Investigation Team probing the case had on Saturday searched the merchant vessel, berthed off Cochin Port, and traced the firearms used by two Italian marines, who allegedly shot dead the fishermen off Kollam coast on February 15.

The search was conducted in the presence of a 10-member Italian delegation, including two ballistic experts.

The two arrested marines - Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone - have been charged with murder and are in police custody.