Sri Lankan authorities have busted a human smuggling racket involving the Colombo Ports following the arrest of four youths who had secretly boarded a Panama-flagged vessel that had docked in Sri Lanka recently.
Investigations have revealed that three of the youths who are from the North had been instructed to meet another youth at a store in Hetti Veediya in Colombo.
One of the youth is said to have been brought to Colombo by another individual who had promised to obtain jobs in Singapore.
Investigations have revealed that the youth had obtained passes to enter the Colombo Fort via the Engineering Department of the Colombo Ports Authority.
The group is reported to have entered the Colombo Port via the Wimaladharma Entrance at 01.00 am on 24th March 2023. They had thereafter been taken in a car and dropped near the second gate of the Ports and instructed to gain entry and walk past the gate.
Once having crossed the gate, they had been picked up by the car again and dropped off at the foot of the Panama-flagged cargo vessel. The youths had thereafter entered the vessel and hidden inside a container.
As the vessel had departed Colombo Port on 4th April, the youths had ventured outside of the container a few days later and met the Captain of the ship informing him that they intended to get off at the Suez Canal Port and travel to America as they cannot find jobs in Sri Lanka.
The Captain of the ship is reported to have handed them over to another vessel which had brought the group to the Galle Habour and handed them over to the local authorities.
Investigations have revealed that the individual who had dropped off the youths at the Colombo Ports gate is said to have obtained Rs. 100,000 each from two youths, Rs. 80,000 from one youth, and Rs. 50,000 from another youth.
The youths have been remanded until 18th April 2023 after being produced before the Galle Magistrate’s Court.
The Police are conducting investigations to apprehend the chief suspect involved in this human trafficking racket. (NewsWire)