148 Sri Lankan Migrants Arrested On Their Way To Canada

colombotelegraph.com /index.php/148-sri-lankan-migrants-arrested-on-their-way-to-canada/

By Stewart Bell

Almost 150 Sri Lankan migrants attempting to reach Canada have been arrested in Benin in the latest sign West
Africa has become a transit hub for people smuggling.

A smuggling syndicate brought the migrants to

Benin before demanding more money and
threatening to harm them. All 148 eventually
agreed to return to Sri Lanka and were deported
Thursday.

A Canadian official confirmed the incident. The

office of Jason Kenny, the Citizenship and
Immigration Minister, said it showed that thugs
and criminals continued to view Canada as a
human smuggling destination.

One of the universal truths about human

smuggling is that networks will use points of
least resistance to get people through, said
Jean-Philippe Chauzy, spokesman for the
Sri Lankan migrants / File photo
International Organization for Migration (IOM),
which helped the Benin migrants.

So when you have a border thats being toughened or when youve got increased surveillance at ports or
airports in one part of the world, then the network will basically adapt. And West Africa is probably a transit
region now for migrants.

Last year, more than 200 Sri Lankans who had paid agents for passage to Canada were abandoned in Togo. In
May, police in neighbouring Ghana, acting on a tip from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, arrested
several Sri Lankans who were allegedly planning to use a fishing boat to ferry migrants to Canada.

More Sri Lankans turned up in Benin several weeks ago.

It seems they were completely stranded there, Mr. Chauzy said. I dont have any information as to whether
they were going to Canada or not.

The IOM provided food, water and medical aid, while the UN refugee agency was brought in to ask if any wanted
to make claims for protection. But none did; all agreed to return voluntarily to Sri Lanka. Three IOM staff
accompanied them on the plane.

The sad reality is that people paying smuggling networks usually are not aware of the difficulties and the risks
they are about to take, Mr. Chauzy said from Geneva.

And smuggling networks tend to paint a very rosy picture, or at least be very economical with the truth, as to
what those people are going to face on the smuggling routes.

Its also sad because Im pretty sure that those Sri Lankans paid a sizeable sum of money to the smugglers.
Somehow they saw that as an investment on their future and they ended up stranded in Benin and now theyre
returning.

In 2009, a ship arrived off the British Columbia coast with 76 Sri Lankan asylum seekers. The MV Sun Sea

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followed in 2010 with 492 Sri Lankans.

In response, the government drafted a controversial anti-human smuggling bill that passed its second reading in
the Senate this week.

This proves what weve said all along that thugs and criminals continue to target Canada, said Alexis
Pavlich, Mr. Kenneys spokesman, responding to news of the arrests in Benin.

Refugee advocates argue Sri Lankans are fleeing human rights abuses suffered by the ethnic Tamil minority.

National Post

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