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The Kollam police claimed to have busted a human trafficking racketon Sunday night with the arrest of two groups of Sri Lankan Tamils,one from a fishing boat off the coast and the other from Mukkadarea of Kavanad in the city. Those taken into custody comprise 107men, 19 women and 25 children. They told the police that Australia was their destination and theyhad paid Rs. 50,000 each for being smuggled into that country. Butthe police were clueless on the identity of the people behind theracket. "At the same time there are indications that Tamil Tigerswith local contacts could be involved." Kollam Police Commissioner Debesh Kumar Behera told The Hindu that it would be verified whether they had sneaked out of refugeecamps in Tamil Nadu or arrived here directly from Sri Lanka. It was also being examined whether those taken into custody were inpossession of travel documents. Preliminary investigations revealed that some of those taken intocustody had arrived directly from Sri Lanka but the majority hadsneaked out of refugee camps in the hope of reaching Australia. The police arrested boat owner Alex and middleman Dasan, both ofKollam. The boat was a crude vessel marked to be condemned. It displayedtwo names, "Saint Antony" and"Kottarathil." From the boat 136 were taken intocustody and the rest from Kavanad. The arrested alleged that they were victims of human rightsviolations both in Sri Lanka and even at the refugee camps in Indiaand that the torture had compelled them to take the risk ofembarking on a dangerous voyage in a crude boat in the hope ofreaching Australia. They were told that it would take 18 days. The women and children were found to have been accommodated insidethe store of the boat. But the police did not find sufficient food or water. Convincing version Mr. Behera said the version of the Tamils seemed convincing as manyof their relatives had reached Australia through the same mode. It was a group of youths relaxing on the banks of the AshtamudiLake at Mukkad which saw some Tamils desperately rushing to a boatjetty and alerted the police. The police soon arrived and on interrogating the group, learnt thata boatload of Sri Lankan Tamils being trafficked to Australia wasnot far from the Kollam coast. The boat was scheduled to arrive at Mukkad and pick up this group. When the operators on the boat learnt that the police were on tothem, they skipped the Mukkad schedule and began sailing away.However, a posse from the Neendakara Coastal Police station, gavechase in the interceptor boat Darshana, and stopped the vessel fromescaping. Crew escape When the police entered the boat there was no crew. It wassuspected that they could have jumped into the sea and escaped. Theteam from the Coastal Police Station steered the fishing boat tothe Shakthikulangara Harbour. Boat owner and middleman, both of Kollam, arrested The boat was a crude vessel marked to be condemned. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China kitchen cabinet baseboard , Waterproof Skirting Board, and more. For more , please visit Kitchen Cabinet Skirting today!
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