Police to send 84 rescued refugees back to Tamil Nadu

Police to send 84 rescued refugees back to Tamil Nadu

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, September 9, 2012: Having decided that all the 84 people detained by them are innocent, the Mangalore police will make preparations to send them back to their refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. The 84 refugees were found on board a boat bound to Australia, which the police had stopped at Old Mangalore Port.

Addressing reporters at a press conference held today, IGP (western range) Prathap Reddy said that the police decided to send them back to Tamil Nadu after verifying their identities with the Tamil Nadu and Kerala police. Of the 84 refugees rescued from the boat, 48 are from Shri Lanka and have been registered at 18 refugee camps all over Tamil Nadu. Eight are from Shri Lanka, but haven’t been registered at any camp, 21 are from Tamil Nadu, 3 are from Karnataka, and 4 are from Kerala. The police will send them back to Tamil Nadu after complete the required paperwork.

 

The 13 people arrested for involvement in the human trafficking racket have been produced in court. Nine of them are from Shri Lanka, 2 are from Tamil Nadu, and one is from Kerala. The police have also detained Madhav Suvarna who had sold the boat to the accused, said the IGP.

 

The IGP also said that the refugees took this step because they were unhappy about the pathetic living conditions in the refugee camps of Tamil Nadu. When a reporter asked him how the 84 will be rehabilitated in Tamil Nadu, the IGP said that the Mangalore city police have done their duty, and rehabilitating the refugees is the duty of the government. The police will submit a detailed report regarding this case, he added.

The IGP said that the 13 people arrested had promised to find better opportunities for the 84 victims in Australia. A batch of 1000 people had already left India. The accused showed them photographs of the 1000 people who had already left India and told them that they were living a nice life in Australia. The refugees were told that they were going to Christmas Island, but the police have confirmed that there was nobody in Australia to accept these people.

The accused had tried to move the victims to Australia twice in the past, but had been unsuccessful. Owing to their failure in Kerala and tough security in Tamil Nadu, they had decided to move the refugees through Old Mangalore Port.

Mr. Reddy said that 3 police officers from Tamil Nadu had visited Mangalore to help the city police bust this human trafficking racket.