Sri Lanka Navy arrests 146 Australia-bound illegal migrants

Sri Lanka Navy today arrested another 146 illegal migrants headed for Australia in two trawlers from the eastern shores and handed them over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for further investigations.
A Fast Naval Patrol Craft attached to the Eastern Naval Command intercepted two multi-day fishing trawlers carrying illegal migrants in the sea about 20 nautical miles east of Trincomalee in the early hours of Saturday. According to the Navy, the group included 132 Tamils, 10 Sinhalese and 4 Muslims. Among them were 107 men,1 6 women and 23 children. They are residents of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Arachchikattuwa, Chilaw, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee, and Mannar. The illegal migrants have been escorted to Trincomalee Harbor to be handed over to the CID for further investigations. The Navy arrested 58 Australia-bound illegal migrants Friday in the seas off the eastern coast. Despite the perilous voyage and the prospects of getting detained in an Australian asylum center, over thousand Sri Lankans had taken the step to illegally migrate this year.