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| Sunday, 28 March 2004 |
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Lankans arrested in Suez Canal deported Crime Sunday by JAYAMPATHY JAYASINGHE The 99 Sri Lankans arrested in the Suez Canal by Egyptian authorities while attempting to reach Italy in a boat almost five weeks ago, were deported to Sri Lanka last Wednesday under heavy security escort, ostensibly to prevent them from re-entering other Western nations in search of greener pastures. The group including 82 Sinhalese and 17 Tamils (all males) were escorted by a contingent of 110 Italian Policemen in a special chartered flight from Cairo. On arrival at the BIA they were arrested by a team of CID officers who interrogated them and recorded their statements. The suspects were later produced before the Negombo Magistrate who remanded them till investigations are over. According to Senior Superintendent of Police (CID) D.S.Y. Samaratunga, each suspect had paid around Rs. 150,000 to 300,000 to the facilitator of the mission to take them to Italy by a boat named "Ava-Maria". The facilitator in question has been operating hand in glove with a notorious mastermind of a human smuggling network, who fled the country while the police were hot on his heels. Interpol assistance has been sought to track him down. However, the facilitator was among the suspects arrested in Egypt along with others. SSP Samaratunga said they flashed a message to Interpol after receiving information that a boat load of people had left Negombo, and were on their way to Italy on January 1, 2004. The Egyptian authorities were successful in arresting them in the Suez Canal. "Chances are, all suspects including the facilitator will be indicted by the Attorney General for attempting to leave Sri Lanka from an unauthorised Port and for violating immigration laws," Samaratunga said. Meanwhile, the boat was to have jettisoned its human cargo in Italy. However, the Egyptian authorities spared no time in alerting the Italian immigration officers based in Egypt. A large number of Italian immigration officers are based in Egypt these days to monitor boats carrying illicit immigrants to Italy. This was because human smugglers have been successful in the past in crossing the Suez Canal as Egyptians have turned a blind eye, to as it did not affect them. However, boatmen arriving in large numbers in Italy from Asian and African countries via the Suez have posed a problem to the Italian government. To stem the flow of illicit immigrants, Italian Emigration officers have been posted to Egypt. Up to March this year, Police have arrested 13 Sri Lankan human smugglers in addition to recovering 42 forged passports and 24 forged visas. Four hundred and two persons were arrested trying to leave Sri Lanka without valid papers. Last year police arrested 226 Sri Lankans, 398 Pakistanis, 318 Indians, 35 Bangladeshis, five Georgians, a Russian, and an Ukrainian attempting to leave to Italy illegally. Of this, 46 were racketeers and 59 were foreigners. However, many young persons still attempt to enter western countries illegally to do menial jobs and earn money and it is difficult to discourage them despite stiff penalties. The focus of human smuggling operations has changed drastically owing to relentless anti-smuggling activities conducted by the police. One notable feature is that not a single foreigner has been apprehended attempting to leave to Italy from Sri Lanka. Police attribute this trend to several Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladesh people being nabbed by the police in 2003. Intelligence reveal that human smugglers have shifted their scale of operations to India. But their modus operandi has still not been revealed so far, police said. |
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