A 24-year-old man from Sri Lanka was detained by the Thangachimadam police here on Sunday morning. Police said the man, who was alone at the Valasai bus stop, claimed that he had lost his way and come here.

The patrol police brought him to the police station and conducted an inquiry.

A police officer said that the man identified as Thushanthan, 24, son of Ravichandran claimed to be a Sri Lankan. He said that he was a resident of Jaffna and gave his address to the officers.

The man said he had landed in Chennai on February 26 and went to his aunt’s house in Maduravoyal. After staying there for a month, he visited his sister Salomi, wife of Shatriyan, living in a refugee camp in Kangeyam. From there, he claimed to have gone to another relative’s place in Tiruvannamalai district, the police said.

After staying there for a fortnight, he had managed to board a lorry, which was bound for Thoothukudi, last week. From there, he had travelled to Madurai, where, he said, he destroyed his passport and other belongings. After reaching Pamban on Saturday night, he trekked to Thangachimadam and had planned to go back home through illegal means, the police suspected.

However, the police handed him over to the Q Branch for further interrogation. A senior police officer said that they were in the process of verifying his details based on the confessions and refused to elaborate when asked why the man had destroyed his passport.