Tamil claims torture by Sri Lankan army intelligence

A Tamil person living in Australia has made a detailed and shocking claim of rape and torture at the hands of Sri Lankan army intelligence, according to an Australian media story published by ABC, the ‘Asian Mirror' reported on Friday.

The scars are proof that those suspected of supporting the defeated Tamil Tigers are still being prosecuted in their homeland, the Tamil Refugee Council in Australia said.

However, Australian Foreign Minister Bob said the asylum seeker’s claims cannot be validated without evidence and said there has been no evidence of returnees being discriminated against or arrested or tortured since 2010.

He said that an asylum seeker is subject to losing his visa and if that happens, his next step would be to apply for asylum before he faces deportation within a month.

Half of the asylum seekers who arrived in Australia were from Sri Lanka, and half of them were believed to be from India.

Indo-Lanka cannabis smuggling thwarted

Four Indians and two of their Sri Lankan collaborators were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy, thwarting an Indo-Sri Lanka cross-border cannabis smuggling racket, while arresting them along with approximately 100kg of ‘Kerala ganja’, the ‘Divaina’ newspaper reported on Saturday.

The arrest was made in the seas off Kachchatheevu on Thursday  by the naval vessel  ‘Udara’ attached to the Northern Naval Command.

An Indian dhow moving suspiciously northeast of the Kachchatheevu Island had been detected by ‘Udara’ on routine patrol. Four bags of cannabis were found hidden on board the dhow.

The navy also arrested the two Sri Lankans who arrived in a fiberglass dinghy to pick up the contraband following the revelation made by the Indians on-board the GPS-fitted dhow, of their plan to arrive at a pre-determined location.

The four arrested along with the cannabis and crafts have been handed over to Delft police for further investigations.

Human trafficking racket busted by Indian police

A human trafficking racket in Mangalore in south India was reportedly busted by Indian police, rescuing 68 Sri Lankan refugees preparing to be ferried to Australia, the ‘Ada Derana’ newspaper reported on Friday 26.

Sri Lankan refugees had been brought to Mangalore promising jobs in Australia and arrangements had been made to ferry them to Australia by sea.

Police became suspicious  when some of those brought to the city were spotted wandering around in various places in the district which led to their arrest.

All these suspects had escaped from the Kummipoondi, Chenkalpattu, Poontamali and several other refugee camps in Tamil Nadu along with two agents involved in the human smuggling.



 

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