CHENNAI: Police arrested a Bangladeshi national , who apparently believed he could swim 2,000km across the Bay of Bengal to his hometown, after paramilitary guards found him in the water at the wharf at Ennore Port past midnight on Saturday.

The man, identified only as Alam, may not have made it to the high seas, but medical tests revealed that he was high on drugs evidently taken before he plunged into the sea. Feeling the heat after their investigation of the May 1 twin blasts at Chennai Central led nowhere in particular, officers of different police wings rushed to the port and questioned Alam, 25. Officers involved said they were apprehensive that he could have been on reconnaissance mission for aterrorist outfit.

Police found that Alam could only speak his native language and called in a translator. But that proved to be of little help as Alam made contradictory statements. An officer said Alam did not have a passport and probably sneaked across the border and into West Bengal in search of employment before making his way to Chennai.

Port officials said CISF personnel took him the man out of the water and called in the city police. Police took him to the commissioner’s office before handing him over to the Minjur police in Tiruvallur district.

Preliminary investigations revealed Alam arrived in Kolkata in 2013 and then went to Bangalore , hoping to get a job. He told police that he had lost his passport. Failing to find employment in Bangalore, he came to Chennai last week. “Alam failed to find a job in Chennai too and, with neither papers nor money, he said he became desperate and decided to swim home, hoping that boats would help him some of the way,” a police officer said.

Investigators said they were surprised that Alam could enter Ennore Port without permission and at an unearthly hour.

“He was speaking incoherently , so we took him for medical tests,” a senior police officer said. “The tests showed he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.” Police booked Alam under Section 12 of the Foreigners Act, 1946.