Navy nabs boats carrying illegal migrants

Rafik Jalaldeen

The Navy assists occupants in need of medical care.

In a major maritime operation the Navy has seized four fishing trawlers carrying over 100 illegal migrants heading for the South-East waters. Navy spokesman Captain Athula Senarath said the Navy had launched a maritime operation on land and high seas to track down the human smuggling during the last four days.

“The operation was successfully carried out by the Naval troops and the operation is continuing to observe the movements and nab racketeers involved, he added.

The fishing multi-day trawlers were detected in the Southern seas heading towards the South Eastern waters. “Timely action following Intelligence information by the Naval troops busted the human smuggling movement in the Southern seas,” Captain Senarath told the Daily News. He said the operation was considered a major breakthrough in human smuggling where a major network would be probed effectively to arrest the criminals and bring them before the justice.

The fishing trawlers had been handed over to the Galle police. Air Force and police assisted the Navy in this combined effort.