Sri Lanka police arrest suspected human smuggler

Sri Lanka police Fraud Investigation Bureau has arrested a suspected human smuggler who is one of the six suspects the police were hunting for taking 209 Sri Lankan Tamil migrants to the West African state of Togo and abandoning them there.
The suspect has revealed that two other accomplices are still in Togo. They have taken the illegal migrants to Togo promising them to be sent to Canada from there. The suspects have collected Rs. 1.2 million to Rs. 1.5 million each from the aspirant migrants. The 209, which included 18 women and 11 children migrants were detained by the authorities of Togo in a stadium under the care of the Togolese Red Cross, which provided them with basic shelter, food and medical care. Police say the suspects are former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTS) terrorist outfit. A batch of 33 abandoned Sri Lankans voluntarily returned from Togo today with the assistance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). They included two women and one child, officials said. Another 103 migrants returned from Togo earlier. After initial investigation by Sri Lanka's National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the returnees will be released. The IOM staff in Colombo facilitates the post-arrival reintegration of the returning migrants.