Mounties probe mystery of missing Tamils

Canada’s federal police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been called upon to go on the trail of eleven Sri Lankan Tamils who have mysteriously disappeared.

The 11 men arrived in early May on an eight-month temporary visa to work at Stewart Mussel Farms in the west of Prince Edward Island. As soon as they arrived in the country they were said to have found jobs in a boatyard.

The men were said to have gone missing on the night of June 8 after their personal belongings were found abandoned. The men were said to have boarded two mini-van cabs bound for Ottawa.

RCMP investigations have revealed that the men had called the cab company two weeks in advance. The investigators are trying to ascertain if the case was an abduction or whether it was planned as many Sri Lankans who come to Canada on temporary visas tend to go to Ottawa to claim refugee status after living in the country for a while.

The men had left behind their passports, clothing, CDs, even photographs of their families, raising many questions. The RCMP investigators are trying to ascertain if there could be any Tamil Tiger link in the whole case.

The investigators had questioned Stephen Stewart and his wife Julia who had given the sponsorship letters for these eleven persons to work as labourers at their farm. However they had told the investigators they were not aware of the whereabouts of the men and that the men had cheated the couple because their air fares had been paid by the couple.

RCMP investigator Denis Morris who spoke to The Sunday Times over the telephone from Prince Edward Island said investigators were trying to find out if the men had any terrorist links.

“We are not sure if they are members of the Tamil Tigers. We have questioned within this week nearly 20 Tamils in Ottawa who were suspected to be Tamil Tiger operatives. We are still hunting for the missing men,” he said.

RCMP investigations have also revealed that the police had stopped the vans west of Montreal while they were en route to Ottawa and questioned the men, but then let them go.

That the missing men could be a security threat gained credence when Prince Edward Island Member of Parliament Wayne Easter warned his Government early last week about the matter.

Previously the RCMP which had stumbled on a Tamil Tiger extortion racket run by a pro-Tiger front organisation had arrested in April this year six persons in Montreal who were said to be involved.

Few Tamils in Montreal which is home to nearly 30,000 Sri Lankan Tamils have complained to the RCMP of members of the World Tamil Movement (WTM) harassing them in their homes and workplaces.

Documents recently unsealed and filed in a Quebec court provide the first look inside an ongoing RCMP investigation called Project CRIBLE in which it has been revealed that many WTM members had been involved, under the cover of a humanitarian organisation that helps Tamils in the war torn areas in Sri Lanka, to launder money to finance the LTTE military campaign. Many WTM accounts in Toronto and Montreal which had millions of Canadian dollars have now been frozen. An Interpol official who spoke to The Sunday Times on grounds of anonymity from his headquarters in Leon, France said that the RCMP has given details of WTM bank accounts in Switzerland, Britain and France. These accounts would be frozen to stop the Tigers’ money laundering campaign, he said.