Human trafficking – Lanka a transit hub

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Sri Lanka has become a transit hub, a gateway to the western hemisphere for human traffickers who smuggle men and women from different parts of the globe via the country.

Several human smugglers operating in the country have been taken in for questioning during the past several months, Police Media Spokesman, SP Ajith Rohana told the Sunday Observer.

He said two children along with two Turkish women and three Siriyan women and two children who attempted to fly to France from the Bandaranike International Airport (BIA) Katunayake were arrested by the Katunayake police when Immigration and Emigration officers detected them with fake visas.

The suspects were handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further questioning.

According to the police, the travel agent became suspicious over the visas when the women called over to collect their airline tickets and tipped off officials of the Immigration and Emigration Department. The two Turkish women accompanied by two boys aged 15 and 12 arrived in the country on January 13 on SriLankan Airlines UL 563 flight. “They spent almost a week in the country, police said.

Several cases of human trafficking were reported from different parts of the country. A few weeks ago 14 people were taken in for questioning by the police in Rekawe who attempted to sail to Australia in a boat illegally.

Police arrested eight persons who helped them to leave in a boat. The suspects told the police that they paid large sums of money to human traffickers to go to Australia.

In another incident, two people were taken in for questioning in Beruwala trying to leave in a boat for the Seychelles islands. The Police Spokesman said it was an offence to leave the country illegally under Section 32 of the Immigration and Emigration Act.