Deported Lankan asylum seekers arrested | Daily News

Deported Lankan asylum seekers arrested

The CID had arrested nine Sri Lankan men yesterday when they arrived in the country having been deported from Australia. They were produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The Police Media Spokesman’s office told the Daily News that the nine men who had gone to Australia at various stages and had claimed refugee status had been deported by the Australian Government on a special charted flight yesterday. Upon their arrival, the CID had taken the men into custody. They are in the age group of 27, 29, 36 and 48 years and are residents of Munalama, Kochchikade, Udappuwa, Chillaw, Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, the police said.

According to the Guardian, the Sri Lankan asylum seekers had been forcibly deported back to Sri Lanka, having been put on a specially chartered jet that left Perth at 2am yesterday. Some of the men deported had been in detention for more than six years in Australia, while others still had challenges before Australian courts pending.

Guardian Australia has been provided with details of some of those returned but has chosen not to name them out of concern for their safety. Several had reported to Australian authorities they had previously been abducted and tortured by security forces in Sri Lanka.

The asylum seekers were transported from detention centres across Australia and taken to Perth, from where they were flown out on a charter flight run by Skytraders.

 


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