Saturday, August 18 , 2012 - 11.05 GMT

Tamil asylum seekers face deportation

In a significant development, the Kerala police are preparing to deport to Colombo 12 Sri Lankan Tamils recently held at Kollam while trying to illegally sail to Australia for asylum, says Deccan Chronicle. The remaining members of the 151-strong group, which included 19 women and 22 children, have been already sent back to their refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. Asked why these 12 were being deported to Sri Lanka, a source explained that they had arrived by air from Sri Lanka on June 2 and joined the larger group that had gathered at Kollam from various refugee camps in TN. “Since they came from Colombo, we are sending them back there. Their crime trying to use our land for the illegal boat trip to Australia falls under the Foreigners’ Act. The others have been sent back to their refugee camps in Tamil Nadu”, the source said. This may be the first time in several years that Sri Lankan Tamils landed in India are being deported to Sri Lanka, the News paper further said. Despite the Indian police thwarting several attempts by unscrupulous agents trying to send Lankan Tamils — mostly refugees in TN camps — to Australia and many media reports warning them of hundreds of such people dying at sea, the trafficking of these Tamils has not slowed down. “We recovered `19.88 lakh from the group, which was part-payment collected from the members of the group by the agents. The group included three male agents and a woman suspect. The chief agent is missing”, said M. Ram Subramanian, DSP, ‘Q’ branch.