http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20110408_03

Tamil migrant should be deported for human smuggling - Border Agency

Among the hundreds of Tamil migrants who arrived in Canada aboard a cargo ship last summer was one of the organizers of what the Canada Border Service Agency deems a human smuggling mission, says a lawyer for the agency. At a hearing Thursday, Kenny Nicolaou asked the Immigration and Refugee Board to deport the man, the first Sri Lankan refugee claimant from the MV Sun Sea to face board allegations of human smuggling. The man, who cannot be identified because of a publication ban, admitted he was one of 12 crew members who were the first to board the ship and helped run it on its voyage from Thailand to Canada. Nicolaou said the operation to arrange and transfer 492 migrants across the ocean was "highly organized" and required key people to ensure it ran smoothly. "Without their contribution, there would have been no journey," he told the board. The migrant testified he had arranged through a friend to work on the crew in exchange for his $35,000 US passage, which he could not pay. He claimed he was not involved in organizing the voyage, and did not want to be, saying through a translator: "I do not know anything about it." Nicolaou also alleged the migrant's relative was a "key organizer" in the operation. The man confirmed a relative worked aboard the ship, but admitted he lied about it during an interview with a border official when the Sun Sea first arrived in Canada last August. He said he revealed the truth and identified his relative in a later interview. The migrant's lawyer, Roland Luo, argued his client had boarded and worked on the Sun Sea because he wanted to come to Canada and make a refugee claim, not to be part of an alleged smuggling ring. Even if he was willingly part of it, Luo said, his tasks on the ship were limited and so he should not be deported. Nicolaou said the migrant's intent is irrelevant, his role was in fact "vital," and his knowledge that hundreds of other Tamils were travelling to Canada on the same ship is enough to implicate him in the alleged smuggling. "Without the 12-member crew and without their contribution, the MV Sun Sea would not have made its way to Canada," the border agency lawyer said. "Those who facilitate the voyage's journey, in particular the 12 crew members, are culpable of having engaged in the vessel's transportation of 492 migrants, contrary to Canadian laws." Adjudicator Michael McPhalen reserved his decision. There were 492 migrants aboard the Sun Sea when it arrived off the coast of British Columbia on Aug. 13, 2010, including 380 men, 63 women and 49 minors. The federal government has accused more than 30 of the passengers of having links to terrorism, war crimes or human smuggling. The federal government has also alleged some of the migrants were members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, which waged a bloody 26-year fight against the Sri Lankan government until it ended in 2009 with the defeat of the Tigers. The group is listed as a banned terrorist organization in Canada. The Sun Sea was the second vessel carrying Tamil migrants to arrive since 2009, when a smaller ship, the MV Ocean Lady, sailed to B.C. The Ocean Lady was carrying 76 migrants who immediately filed for refugee status. (The Canadian Press)