Human trafficking to Canada: US Navy seizes Kollam native's boat with 59 refugees

Kochi: The US Navy has seized a fishing boat owned by a woman belonging to Kerala which was engaged in human trafficking to Canada.

The boat, which was intercepted by the US Navy between Maldives and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, was carrying 59 Sri Lankan Tamils. According to the authorities, the Sri Lankan Tamils had escaped from refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.

The boat was purchased by one Easwari of Kulathupuzha in Kollam district of Kerala six months ago from Shereef, belonging to Neendakara, also in Kollam. Easwari had told Shareef that she was buying the boat for a relative at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. Officials said that Easwari was probably only an intermediary as there were legal restrictions on selling a fishing boat to persons outside the state.

Set sail on September 22
Earlier, it had been reported that a boat that had left Colachel harbour in Tamil Nadu for fishing on September 22 was missing. The same boat was later seized by the US Navy near the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. After realizing that the boat was illegally transporting people to Canada, the US Navy handed over the boat and its occupants to the Maldives Navy. Subsequently, Maldives conveyed the information to the Indian government.

Soon, the ‘Q Branch’ of the Tamil Nadu confirmed that the passengers on the fishing boat were 59 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka who had escaped from the camps at Madurai and Tiruchirappalli.

Currently, Central agencies as well as the Q Branch have launched an investigation into the matter.