A suspicious foreign fishing 'dhow', seen off the Alapuzha coast, was intercepted by the Coast Guard and brought to Vizhinjam from Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

A 12-member crew from Iran who were in the dhow have been taken into custody by Kerala police and are being interrogated.

A Coast Guard official told PTI that the interception was based on intelligence inputs from central and state agencies, including Kerala police.

Satellite phones, which are prohibited, were found in the dhow.

Vizhinjam police said interrogation of the crew was going on and the examination of the dhow was in progress.

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