13 March 2021 12:00 am
By Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe and Pathma Kumari
A group of 24 individuals including three children who attempted to migrate to Canada through India was arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy during a raid at Kurakkanhena area in Kalpitiya. They were on their way to the Kurakkanhena lagoon by a lorry when the Navy arrested them.
Investigations revealed that they were from Puttalam, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Mullativu and Jaffna and that they had paid the racketeers varying prices between Rs. 200,00 and Rs.500.000 for the voyage.
They said they travelled by lorry from Batticaloa to Colombo and from there to Kalpitiya and lodged in fishermen’s huts in Kurakkanhena area until they were ferried by boats to the trawlers in the deep sea.
The suspects and the lorry were handed over to Kalpitiya police for further action. A senior police official said the kingpins behind the racket were from Batticaloa, Jaffna and Trincomalee and that the Navy and the police initiated investigations to arrest them.