Suspects who tried to sail illegally to Australia and Canada remanded

A group of persons who were arrested while allegedly planning to sail illegally to Australia and Canada by boat have been remanded in custody till December 6 by the Puttalam Magistrate. 

The suspects were taken into custody from a rest house in Thiladiya, Puttalam on Novemer 26 by police following a tip-off. They are residents of Jaffna, Mannar, Puthukkudiyiruppu and Trincomalee. 

Those in the group had confessed that they were staying in the rest house after reaching a deal with a people smuggler in Puttalam to take them to Australia and Canada using multi-day fishing trawlers. 

Police investigations have revealed that one person among those arrested had earlier been deported from Australia after arriving in the country illegally. 

Text and Pix by Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe in Puttalam

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