SL Navy intercept Australia bound 'boat people' from India
Mahinda P. Liyanage, Galle correspondent
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A mother with her child were among the
illegal migrants. |
Sixty six Tamil nationals who were intercepted by the Navy on Monday
13 nautical miles off Hakkaduwa while they were heading illegally to
Australia from India in a multi-day trawler were brought to the Galle
Sea Port and handed over to the Boossa Terrorist Investigation Division
in Galle for further investigations. The interception was made by a Fast
Naval Craft attached to the Southern Naval Command.
Investigations revealed that the illegal migrants that included
females and children were Sri Lankan refugees who had been in various
refugee camps in Tamil Nadu since 2006 and had got on board on May 2
from Kochi.
The TID suspects the operation to be a part of a massive racket to
smuggle people to Australia and has initiated intensive investigations
into the incident.
The illegal migrants were to be produced before Galle Chief
Magistrate yesterday evening by the TID investigators who hoped to
obtained detention orders in respect of the suspects for further
interrogation.
However, observers point out that these risky voyages to Australia
have turned out to be frequent occurrences despite action jointly
launched by Sri Lankan and Australian authorities.
Further it is reported that Australia during the recent past had sent
back over 1,000 Sri Lankan illegal migrants.
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