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| Sunday, 27 January 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Magistrate
orders "migrants" to be remanded
by JAYAMPATHY JAYASINGHE Colombo Magistrate ordered the remanding of 177 suspects produced by the Harbour Police on the advise of the Attorney General's Department for the alleged attempt to migrate to Italy illegally in a trawler for a period of 14 days till completion of investigations, Harbour Police told the "Sunday Observer." The suspects were intercepted by the Navy in high seas off Negombo last week and were later handed them over to the Harbour Police. They could be charged for violating the Immigration and Emigration Act, Harbour Police, OIC, Chief Inspector Jayantha de Silva told the Sunday Observer. Police meanwhile said that Negombo has become a focal exit point for illegal emigrants to western countries because of human smuggling operations during the past few years. Last year fourteen men who set sail for Italy on a high-powered trawler were arrested along with four other fishermen believed to be human smugglers in the Negombo lagoon. The suspects were arrested on a tip off shortly before their departure on board the trawler with 14 Sri Lankans. A special gasoline tank containing around 30,000 litres of fuel was fitted to the trawler for the long journey. When police raided the smugglers were also getting ready to load a large stock of food items including water for the mission. The suspects, mostly young persons, had paid sums ranging from Rs. 300,000 to 400,000 for the smugglers to get them across to Italy illegally in a dilapidated fishing trawlers. The trawler was a treacherous death traps with little ventilation and the journey to Italy takes around two months, police said. Smuggling humans has become a lucrative business with many persons seeking asylum in western countries. Last year in another operation the Negombo police arrested 27 persons trying to flee the country in a trawler. The suspects were later produced before the Negombo Magistrates court were remanded, police said. Many Sri Lankans working in the Middle- Eastern countries too had attempted to enter Italy illegal but the majority of them have been deported from Italy. A few years ago, the Italian police found 57 people, mostly Sri Lankans, dead inside a petrol bowser. The asylum seekers had tried to enter Italy thorough Bulgaria, sources said. |
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