Sri Lanka Navy intercepted two multi-day trawlers carrying 147 asylum seekers who were on their way to Australia. One of the trawlers was intercepted in the sea 22 nautical miles off Beruwala while the other was intercepted 20 nautical miles off Chilaw.

One of the trawlers named ‘Jethsameni’ had 64 Tamils and two Sinhalese on board. The other trawler named ‘Panchali Duwa 4’ had 59 Tamils and 22 Sinhalese on board.

They are residents of Jaffna, Mullaithivu, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Kilinochchi, Chilaw, Puttlam, Colombo, Negombo, Kurunegala and Mannar. They were brought to the Modera Fisheries Harbour and handed over to the CID for further investigations. (Supun Dias)