Attempt to sail to Down Under:

15 Lankans deported from India

Fifteen Sri Lankans arrested by the Kollam police on June 3 after busting a human trafficking racket and later released from judicial custody on August 17 were deported to Sri Lanka from the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Saturday morning.

Though they were released from judicial custody, the court had made it clear that they were not free and would be lodged at Gandhi Bhavan, a charity home at Pathanapuram till completion of the formalities for their deportation. They were not permitted to leave the charity home premises.District Collector P. G. Thomas said on Friday that the formalities for their deportation had been completed by the Sri Lankan High Commission in Chennai.

They were arrested for violating the Foreigners Act by being in the country without proper travel documents. They were part of a group of 151 Sri Lankans, including women and children, who were about to be smuggled out in a crude fishing boat to Australia.

-The Hindu