Canada helps thwart another Sri Lankan smuggling plot

The federal government has apparently helped stop another group of Sri Lankan migrants from seeking asylum illegally in Canada.

About 148 Sri Lankan men, women and children were returned to their homeland Thursday after arriving in Benin. It’s believed the group was planning to come to Canada and were shaken down by human smugglers while transiting through the West African nation.

“Our police and intelligence agencies succeed yet again in interrupting another human smuggling plot,” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney Tweeted Thursday following a report in the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror that indicated the Canadian government was among several agencies involved in the arrest.

Details of Canada’s involvement aren’t clear as officials refuse to comment on socalled “operational details,” according to Mike Mueller, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.

Jean Philippe Chauzy, a spokes man for the international Organization for Migration, which was among the agencies involved in the interception, however, was able to provide a few more details. While he couldn’t confirm Canada’s involvement, he said the group of migrants that was intercepted included 128 males and 20 females, 15 of whom were under the age of 18.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees was on hand from the start to explain they had a right to seek asylum in Benin, but Chauzy said the group decided instead to return to Sri Lanka.

He noted the migrants were suffering from stress and asthma and complained they’d been threatened and physically abused by human smugglers.