Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

Mangalore police smash human trafficking racket: 13 arrested

Acting on a tip-off, the Mangalore city police and the City Crime Branch have unearthed a major human trafficking racket and detained 84 Sri Lankans from some Tamil Nadu refugee camps who were being illegally transported to Australia via Mangalore.

Thirteen men accused of being involved in the human trafficking were arrested. Of the 84 victims, 22 were women and 56 men. Six were children.

Eleven of the 13 accused are from Tamil Nadu and one each from Kerala and Sri Lanka. They were attempting to transport the 84 refugees to Australia by sea from Tannirbavi in Mangalore.

The accused had promised jobs in Australia and had collected money ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 1 lakh from each of the refugees.

The victims were from 27 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Madurai, Pudukottai, Palar Anikattu, Tiruvanvelvi and Hosur. They arrived here apparently on Tuesday.

The police traced the refugees who were taking shelter in some city lodges and in Kollur temple.

Inspector General of Police (Western Range) and Mangalore Police Commissioner in charge Pratap Reddy told journalists on Saturday that the police had arrested C Dinesh Kumar, 27, Rajeev Gandhi alias Kaandan, 28, Maria Jamsan, 22, Shivakumar, 28, S Ravichandran, 30, Shajahan, 33, Mahendran, 41, S Suresh, 26, Thavarassa, 46, Mariya Siran, 33, Siraj, 37, Yakoob, 40, and Saleem, 28.

Thavarassa, who is from Sri Lanka, is said to have connections with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He and his associates have been booked under 120 (B) of IPC (cheating with conspiracy), Section 14 of the Foreigners Act and Rule No 5 of Foreigners Order.

The accused, posing themselves as brokers, had purchased a boat, “Suraksha,” from man named Madhav Suvarna by paying Rs 11.5 lakh. About 6,000 litres of diesel and food were found in the seized boat in which the refugees were to be transported.

Ten mobile phones, Rs 2,84,000 in cash and some identity cards issued by the refugee camps were seized by the police.

Pratap Reddy said the accused were involved in human trafficking earlier, too. The police had foiled their earlier attempts in Ponnani and Kollam in Kerala.

This time, they opted for an alternative route and arrived here to transport the refugees.
According to the culprits, they had planned to transport the refugees to Christmas Island in Australia. The traffickers had been cheating the refugees, exploiting their lack of valid documents, including passports.

Reddy said a team of Tamil Nadu police had arrived in the city. Another team would arrive on Sunday.

He said the refugees would be sent back to the camps once their identities were ascertained.

“This is the first major human trafficking case unearthed in Mangalore or perhaps in the State in the recent past. We are conducting a detailed interrogation and are finding out the kingpin behind the human trafficking,” Reddy added.