21 Sri Lankan Tamils planning to leave for Australia held

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ branch sleuths arrested 21 Sri Lankan Tamils near Mamallapuram on Friday evening. Police suspect they were preparing to leave for Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean.
The ‘Q’ branch sleuths became suspicious after they found that five to 10 Sri Lankan Tamils, who had left a refugee camp at Gummidipoondi, began to disappear on a daily basis.A few days ago, police arrested a five-member gang involved in human trafficking and launched a hunt for two others who often lure Sri Lankan refugees with promises to take them places like Christmas Island.
The men arrested turned out to be refugees from camps across the state. They planned to ferry the refugees to Christmas Island from the eastern coastal region of Tamil Nadu. Police said the traffickers had planned to take 23 Sri Lankan refugees from the eastern coastal area of Tamil Nadu through illegal ferry.