Trafficking of humans through sea on the rise: Report

The intelligence agencies have alerted the coastal police that with the high seas and the increase in rainfall, the activities of the human trafficking rackets are high during the season.

The officials said that the human trafficking bid by cashing in on the Sri Lankan Tamilians increase during the high seas as it will be difficult to track the vessels crossing the Indian waters. In the last three years, the state police had busted four such attempts to transport the Sri Lankan Tamils from various ports to Australia.

“During the rainy season and the high seas, the Tamils can easily cross the country. Such rackets operate during the monsoon season and in November-December, which is a time of high rainfall. The people are seafarers and can survive the high seas for a long time with little food. But their bid had become futile after they were arrested from Kerala by the police all the time,” the intelligence official said.

With the frequency of the checks increasing in Kerala and the arrest of several key men of the racket, they stopped operating from the Kerala coast. This time, the ports in Karnataka are being used for such activities. The Mangalore police had arrested several Sri Lankan refugees for making such attempts a few days ago. Similarly, the Kerala police  had also arrested the agents of a fishing vessel from Mangalore found near Vypin, for allegedly abetting the trafficking attempts.

The rackets operate by cashing in on the discontented life of the Sri Lankan refugees living in various camps in Tamil Nadu. Last year, the police had arrested a key person, named Shenthiran, of the human trafficking racket. He submitted that the group used to take Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 from each person for getting transported to Australia. 0The racket had planned to drop the refugees on an isolated island in Australia. Australia was chosen as it is easy for the refugees to get a citizenship there.

The group choose Kerala and Karnataka ports instead of  Tamil Nadu, as there is a high possibility of getting identified from the latter location. The racket is being operated by people belonging to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.