Asylum seekers migrated while on bail

9 February 2013 01:33 am

Fourteen suspects who were on bail after being charged with attempting to migrate to Australia illegally in May last year had nevertheless migrated to Australia while the case was pending in Courts.

Colombo Fraud Bureau (CFIB) Sub Inspector Wimalasena Edirisuriya informed Colombo Chief Magistrate Rashmi Singappuli about this turn of events when the case in which 101 suspects were arrested for allegedly attempting to migrate to Australia was taken up for inquiry.

IP Edirisuriya said the suspects P. Muralidharan,V. Nadeer, S. Arul Pragash, K. Ananda Raj, A. Aiyar Muttu, S. Sivanandan, A. Murugan, S. Sivarajan, A. Vijeyadharshan, L. Surendran, R. Selvakumar, R. Wijeyasiri, Loga Ruban, D. Yuvarajah, and S. Muthukrishnan who were on bail had once agin migrated to Australia illegally. Their sureties were present in court yesterday.

Counsel Rasika Bamunuhendahewa and Lakmal Ranasinghe appearing for the suspects said the way things were taking place there was a tendency for the other suspects too to leave the country. As such they moved that the investigation be completed soon.

Seven other suspects charged with human trafficking of 101 asylum seekers to Australia were remanded till February 22.

The other 81 suspects were ordered to appear in court on June 28. The Magistrate issued warrants for the arrest of the 14 suspects who had left the country.
The suspects were charged under the Immigration and Emigration Act.( Farook Thajudeen)