A group of 46 Sri Lankan illegal immigrants, repatriated to Colombo by air on Friday (13) by authorities of French Reunion Island in the southwest Indian Ocean, was presented before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court by the Police yesterday (14), The Sunday Morning learns.

The 46 suspects have been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to be interviewed as part of an ongoing investigation into human trafficking.

According to the Sri Lanka Navy, the 46 Sri Lankan nationals had left home shores on 2

December 2022 and had been smuggled to the French-controlled islands east of Madagascar on Christmas Eve.

The group of Sri Lankans – aged 13-53 years and comprising 43 men, two women, and one child – had made the journey in a locally-registered, multi-day fishing trawler (IMUL A-0559 CHW), which had left from Negombo. It is suspected that the traffickers had charged the individuals

between Rs. 200,000 and Rs. 450,000 for the journey.

Illegal immigration from Sri Lanka using sea routes surged in 2022, with 1,532 suspects

apprehended during the year, while only 24 suspects were apprehended in 2020.

Last year, 59 attempts to illegally migrate via sea routes were foiled by the Police, Coast Guard, and the Navy, with destinations such as Australia and India recording the highest number of attempts.

According to the Navy, in 2022, of the 1,532 suspects detained, 1,208 were men and 324 were women.

The Covid pandemic and the economic crisis are viewed as the leading reasons for the increase in illegal immigration attempts.