Bhubaneswar, Jan 6 (Inditop.com) At least seven people have been arrested in Orissa’s coastal town of Puri for allegedly providing illegal boat rides to some tourists in the Bay of Bengal, police said Wednesday.

The people, locally known as Nolia, allegedly took a dozen tourists to a risky area of the Bay of Bengal Tuesday in two boats. The tourists were from Chhattisgarh.

Police have registered two cases against the Nolias on the basis of a complaint lodged by a tourist and seized two boats they used in the ride.

“We have arrested seven people for illegally taking tourists to the risky area of the Bay of Bengal,” police officer B.N. Sethi told Inditop.

Puri, 56 km from here, is one of the most visited coastal towns in India. Thousands of tourists visit this town every day. Some Nolias provide them rides in the Bay of Bengal.