|
|
|
  |
| Sunday, 19 December 2004 |
 |
|
 |
News |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Italy bound Chinese, Thais : Made Korean in Colombo by Poddala Jayantha A massive racket involving top police officers, immigration and emigration officials and customs officers where Chinese and Thai nationals had been brought to Colombo and sent to Italy for employment as Korean nationals on forged Korean passports had been bared. A Korean national residing at a location in Dehiwala had masterminded this operation over a period of time with the assistance of the Police, Immigration and Emigration Department and the Customs, a probe has revealed. Despite the police being aware of the racket, this key suspect had jumped the country on Friday night after those probing the racket had alerted the Dehiwala Police and the CID, well informed sources disclosed. It is learnt that Korean nationals do not meet hazards in obtaining visas to proceed to Italy. Young men and women from China and Thailand are reported to have been brought in through Colombo Airport, Katunayake on genuine tourist visas and then were provided forged Korean passports with their photographs to proceed to Italy. It had been revealed that forged Korean passports are printed abroad which look identical to the genuine Korean passports, those conducting the probe said. The Chinese and Thai youth proceeding to Italy on these forged Korean passports are being assisted by some immigration officials who stamp those passports before submitting them to the Italian Mission in Colombo to get the visas. These forged passports printed abroad make their way through the Katunayake airport with the assistance of the Immigration officials, the probe revealed. The Koreans had charged US dollars 6,000 from each Chinese and Thai youth as fees and had paid US $2,000 per case to the officials who assisted in the racket. It is also revealed that these women brought to Colombo from Thailand and China are housed at that Dehiwala location till the passport procedures are finalised.Until that period these women are said to be engaged in prostitution. The rental paid for this house at Dehiwala by the Korean suspect who jumped the country is reported to be Rs. 80,000 a month. Despite two youth who acquainted the Korean suspect sometime ago to ascertain details about the racket and had reported it to the CID, the detectives had failed to act promptly. The two youth had even assisted the CID to track the Korean by requesting the Korean to meet them at a venue in Nugegoda last week. When the two youth had gone there to meet the Korean in order to facilitate the CID to arrest him, two men claiming to be CID officers had come there and assaulted the two youth and robbed their cellular phones. The two youth claimed that they had seen the two assaulters earlier at the CID office in Colombo. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
