Twenty eight refugees en route to Canada return
Atapattu Bandara and Kumarasiri Prasad
Twenty eight out of 150 Sri Lankan refugees who were detained by the
Togo authorities returned to the country yesterday. They were en route
to Canada via Togo.
"There are 209 Sri Lankans in a playground at the Togo Airport hoping
to return Sri Lanka", a resident of Colombo who was under arrest while
enroute to Canada illegally said after returning to the country at the
Katunayaka International Airport yesterday.
Sri Lankan refugees are being detained in Togo. Many of them are
willing to return to the country while only 30 have expressed their
unwillingness to return, he said.
After initial investigation by the National Intelligence Bureau(NIB)
and Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the returnees were released
last night.
It is also reported that they have not contracted jaundice which is
widely spreading in the African region. They underwent a thorough
medical test to ensure that they have no symptoms of jaundice.
International Migration Organization (IMO), Canada and Sri Lankan
governments facilitated their return.
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