The City Crime Branch police on Friday arrested 38 Sri Lankan nationals who have illegally migrated to India. The arrests were made during raids at multiple locations in and around Mangaluru. Six local people, who had sheltered these illegal immigrants have also been arrested.
Mangaluru Commissioner of Police N Shashi Kumar told reporters that the operation was launched following a tip-off from Tamil Nadu police. He said that the illegal immigrants were trafficked to India with the promise of jobs in Canada. They were staying at two lodgings and two houses for past 45 days claiming to be daily wage workers and fishermen from Tamil Nadu.
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According to Commissioner, they had left Sri Lanka on March 17 by paying Rs 6 to Rs 10 lakh in Sri Lankan rupees to an agent. They reached Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi by boats. The agents, fearing intense scrutiny of foreign nationals due to Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, shifted the Sri Lankan nationals in buses first to Bengaluru and later to Mangaluru. The commissioner added that an organised illegal trafficking racket was operating in Tamil Nadu.
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