Investigation into the grounding of the Mao boat in Reunion: the owner arrested for reporting a false case of theft

• Ruddy René Peyrat: “I was scared because they didn’t come back in time”

Major development in the wake of the investigation into the sinking of the fishing boat Mao, which ran aground against the coast of Reunion at Champ Borne, Saint-André. Ruddy René Peyrat, the owner of the boat, who had reported its theft to the police, was arrested.

His arrest on Wednesday, June 5, came after investigators, led by Inspector Dooshan Thakoor, established that he had made a false statement of theft to the police. It was on Wednesday May 29, 2024 that this 48-year-old French national declared that his fishing boat, moored in the lagoon of Grand-Baie, had been stolen between May 19 and 29. Initially, he said he was suspecting a resident of Trou-d'Eau-Douce to whom he had given the keys to his boat on May 19 for repair work.

However, the situation took another turn with the discovery of the boat on the sister island on Thursday May 30, then the arrest of its two occupants. They are Kamlesh Bolaky, a 50-year-old mason who acted as skipper, and his helper Jean Stephen Ambalavani, 32 years old. Jérôme Roger Agathe, who had given them this boat for a fishing trip, was also arrested.

The Grand-Baie criminal police detectives questioned the three men at length. This is how they collected incriminating evidence against Ruddy René Peyrat, revealing that he knew that his boat had not been stolen and that he was on a deep-sea fishing expedition. In the middle of the week, he was taken on board by criminal police investigators.

Confronted with the evidence, the French national, in the presence of his lawyer, returned to his initial testimony. He admitted to having made a false statement, explaining that he was aware that his son-in-law Jérôme Roger Agathe had handed over his boat, the Mao, to individuals for a fishing trip on the high seas. “As they are not When I returned in time, I was afraid and I reported this case of theft to the police,” he admitted. Subsequently, he was also placed in police detention. On Thursday, the Quatreborn resident was provisionally charged with “effecting public mischief” before the Rivière-du-Rempart court.

At this stage of the investigation, the police take the version of the duo Kamlesh Bolaky and Jean Stephen Ambalavani with a pinch of salt. Both had declared, during their interrogation, that they were on the high seas at the request of Jérôme Roger Agathe for a fishing trip. However, once on the high seas, a failure affected one of the boat's two engines, causing their boat to drift to the shores of the sister island. During a search of this boat, no traces of drugs were detected by the Reunion gendarmerie.

However, the police are deepening their investigations to determine if these four suspects are not in reality involved in a drug transaction between the Réunion-Mauritius axis, because the presence of this boat to the east of the sister island is considered very suspected by the anti-drug squad.