'SL used as transit point'

3 July 2012 11:59 am

Sri Lanka is now being used as a transit point for human trafficking, the head of the country’s national counter trafficking unit said.

“Sri Lanka has been identified as a transit point for Pakistani and Afghan nationals to go to Australia. That is the new trend,” Prabath Aluthge, Head of the Counter Trafficking Unit at the Department of Immigration and Emigration told a panel discussion on the prevention of human trafficking and smuggling. The event was organised by the Sri Lanka Press Institute on Monday.

Aluthge also said the Department planned to introduce a biometric passport system, which would help stem the problem of human trafficking.
He said most asylum seekers were “economic migrants seeking greener pastures in lenient countries,” and explained that officials had detected several cases and returned them to the host country.(Ayesha Zuhair)