Deportation, the answer - Navy officials

Sri Lankan Navy officials have urged Australia to deport the boatpeople arriving from the country, saying it was the “best way” to deter human smugglers, a report said yesterday.

Naval Operations Director Commodore N. Attygalle and Head of Naval Intelligence Nishantha Ulugetenne told The Weekend Australian newspaper that Canberra ought to turn Sri Lankan asylum-seekers straight back home.

“When you start deporting this problem will ease for us,” Commodore Ulugetenne told the newspaper.

“More than 1,500 Sri Lankans have landed in Australia in the last six months. What are you going to do with them, screen them one by one?” Authorities in Colombo have seen a spike in people-smuggling traffic from its shores in recent months even though they have disrupted several attempts involving hundreds of asylum-seekers.

AFP