Human smuggling - important dimensions

Nipuni WIMALAPALA

The Police have arrested about 200 suspects and 15 facilitators in respect of human smuggling offences since January 9, 2012 to date and 99 percent of the offenders are purportedly of minority communities, said Police Media Spokesman, SP Ajith Rohana addressing a panel discussion on preventing human smuggling and trafficking held at the Sri Lanka Press Institute.

"The police has identified that the minority communities are more vulnerable to be misled by smugglers on the pretext of obtaining asylum or citizenship easily on the basis of their minority status. They are requested to pretend that they are being ill-treated and discriminated against by the majority. This situation not only puts innocent people in trouble but also brings disrepute to the image of the country", he said.

He said the existing laws are regulated continuously to prevent such cases and that the Police are committed and take appropriate action along with other related agencies such as the ILO, Immigration and Emigration Department, Foreign Employment Bureau, Bandaranaike International Airport security unit and the Sri Lanka Navy.

"We have a Special Crimes Investigation Bureau at the Criminal Investigation Department and a special unit at the Bandaranaike International Airport. Apart from that there are 43 Children's and Women's Bureaus throughout the country which work in respect of human trafficking offences. They specially deal with cases regarding internal trafficking", he said.

He further said that today since Sri Lanka has become a transit point of smuggling and trafficking, passengers are screened well at the airport especially to identify the Afghans and Pakistanis who have a tendency to migrate to Australia, and Canada via Sri Lanka.

The security measures that have been in operation enabled tracing some suspects in June.

The Sri Lanka Police has conducted several training programmes for police officers, and have a recording system to trace the information of such cases.

The Criminal Investigation Department also has a special unit which operates to prevent human smuggling and trafficking attempts. According to SP Rohana many suspects have already been convicted although certain cases are pending in courts.

The delay is attributed to the time factor required to complete investigations before cases are filed. At times, recordings of foreign embassy officials have to be done and documents need to be traced.

Some facilitators are in countries like Australia and Canada. Especially Sri Lankan facilitators are traced to Australia, New Zealand and certain European countries.