KOLLAM, September 29, 2012 | The Hindu
Fifteen
Sri Lankan Tamils arrested by the Kollam police on June 3 after busting a human
trafficking racket and later released from judicial custody on August 17 will
be 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, near here, 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. The Collector
directed the police to transport them to the Thiruvananthapuram airport early
Saturday morning and hand them over to the emigration authorities.
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 Lankan Tamils,
including women and children, who were about to be smuggled out in a crude
fishing boat to Australia.
They
said they had paid money ranging from Rs.50,000 to Rs.1 lakh to agents of human
traffickers for getting them to Australia. The majority of those arrested were
Sri Lankan Tamil refugees housed in various refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.
Those
from the camps were identified and sent back to the respective camps. But 15
men who directly came from Sri Lanka without any travel documents were
arrested. The court released them from judicial custody under the provisions of
a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) notification which classifies them as
victims and not accused persons.
