Human smugglers, the new predators

When the group was found wandering in the bitter sub-zero temperatures of northern Kazakhstan, now the vast independent Central Asian state bordering Russia but formerly a republic of the Soviet Union, they were carrying the body of one who died in those harsh conditions.

At the time the story made the news, it was not clear who these people were except that they originally came from Sri Lanka. They were all men aged between 20 to 39 but their ethnicity was not disclosed or had not been ascertained.

But one thing was very clear. They had all become victims of "a businessman", known to some of them, who had promised to help them enter Germany via the Gulf and Russia.

They set out on their journey in mid-November via Dubai and Omsk in Russia. When they arrived in a 'safe house' in Omsk, they were joined by other Sri Lankans. Twenty days later they were put into the back of a lorry and driven for some five hours before being dropped off. They were told they were in Germany and should now be careful to avoid police checkpoints.

This sorry tale is still another in a litany of tragic stories of would-be refugees who have been duped into parting, often with their life's possessions, on the understanding that they would be smuggled into a country of their choice.

From Asia, Africa and even Europe, thousands of people are trying to flee their countries, for justifiable reasons as well as concocted ones, and reach a developed western nation in the hope of starting a new life.

Almost daily refugees and asylum seekers are arriving at the borders of western European nations and North America or actually entering them- legally and illegally- putting tremendous pressure not only on administrations but infrastructure facilities.

The result is that-as we have seen here in the UK and in continental Europe- there are increasing demands on governments to tighten up immigration laws and procedures.

This has been accompanied by social tensions as the cry against refugees and asylum seekers has often been reflected in increasing racism and verbal and physical attacks on racial minorities.

The growing anger at the escalating cost to the public of accommodating asylum seekers and refugees is being directed also at racial minorities-particularly Africans, Afro-Caribbeans and Asians- who have been living for decades among the local people.

Over six months ago 58 Chinese were found dead in the back of a truck which arrived from Holland, crossed the channel and reached Dover. Just a few days ago two men hiding in the wheelwells of a jetliner fell to their deaths near London.

Such stories will make the news one day and disappear from the media in the next day or two. That is how common they have become. The essential humanity that such tragic tales would have evoked in the reading and viewing public some years ago is fast disappearing.

Still the yearning to leave the shores of their own countries for whatever reason, will remain strong. Certainly the desperate desire to escape from the persecution at home will remain a terribly strong motive for wanting to get out one way or another. 

But economic motives- to find a better life for themselves and their families often serve as a reason to concoct stories of persecution and fear of death which provide more acceptable grounds for being accepted as a refugee.

If motives remain strong, then how are countries to halt or minimise this trade in human traffic which is being exploited with such disgusting cynicism. Human smuggling has become one of the most lucrative businesses today.

The story of the Sri Lankans abandoned in the icy wasteland of Kazakhstan should serve as a reminder to the authorities that there is a long chain which begins in the country from which people seek to escape.

"The businessman" who arranged the long and devious journey was known to some of them. That is clear. He is obviously a person in Sri Lanka who thrives on such human smuggling and it does not matter to him whether these people survive or die as long as they have passed out of his hands. He has performed his task.

These cynical traders do not operate in Sri Lanka without their tentacles spreading to key government departments such as Immigration. I have met people who have been dumped in Hong Kong by so called "agents" who bring men and women to Hong Kong on the pretext of giving them jobs there or sending them on to South Korea, Japan or Taiwan.

Untold numbers have been left in the lurch in Hong Kong after the "agents" disappear with their passports promising to return them once the prospective employers have seen them. That is the last they see of their passports and money.

A notorious agent in Hong Kong operates under the name of Eddie while a woman with at least four passports calls herself Jezima.

The question is why do they retain the passports? Obviously to sell to others who could then doctor them and use. 

Once an agent in Colombo promised to get me a passport, delivered to my home on the same day, for Rs 10,000. Others have told me how they have returned to Colombo on what was obviously somebody else's passport. Asked how they enter, they explain how simple it is. A $100 dollar note inside the passport apparently acts like a magic wand.

The other day a young Tamil here told me how he was expecting to have his wife join him soon, though she had been refused a visa more than once by the British High Commission. She had been taken to Cambodia with several others. But after being in Cambodia for three weeks or more, the arrangement with other links in the chain appeared to have failed and she was back in Colombo.

But is he giving up? No. He will make another try and another £ 10,000 or so will pass from his hand to another and then to several others as the loot is split.

If governments are keen to stop this inhuman trade, then they have to crack down at both ends of the business. If the Sri Lanka Government wants to curb the illicit trade, it must study closely the workings of some of its departments such as Immigration and Customs. Unless leaks are stopped at Immigration, any administration will be hard put to curb such activities.

Another is to ensure that politicians and the kith and kin of senior officials are not somehow connected with trying to move human cargo.

And the countries which are "soft targets" for human traffickers must not merely tighten their laws but also impose much heavier penalties against those found guilty of aiding and abetting illegal immigration.

A British woman caught trying to smuggle three Sri Lankans recently was sentenced to a mere three months. This will hardly serve as a deterrent when the stakes are so high and thousands are lining up to come.

If the chain is to be broken then the heaviest punishment must serve to deter the slave traders because that is precisely what they are. This is a transnational trade. Only inter-governmental action can destroy the new predators. 

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