Topic: Ship seized near B.C.

[old medic]

Illegal migrants paid big bucks: report
By Fabian Dawson
The Vancouver Province
October 19, 2009

VANCOUVER — The 76 illegal migrants who were intercepted on a rusting ship off the west coast of Vancouver paid up to $45,000 U.S. each for a new life in Canada, one of their compatriots has claimed.

The suspected asylum seekers, who are being held in a Vancouver jail pending refugee claims, are believed to be one of four groups of Sri Lankans in four ships operated by human smugglers.

Australian authorities said the international human smuggling operation is linked to the notorious Abraham Lauhenapessy, known as Captain Bram, who has spent the last decade smuggling Sri Lankans, particularly Tamils.

The illegal migrants reportedly paid up to $45,000 U.S. for the Canadian option, which involved the cross-Pacific journey on the Ocean Lady that was intercepted and towed to Victoria last Sunday.

The other vessel with 254 Tamils aboard is currently tied at a wharf in West Java, Indonesia.

Australian and Indonesian authorities said that Lauhenapessy is on that boat, which was originally heading toward Australia.

Two other vessels carrying Sri Lankan Tamils were reportedly sending distress signals Monday morning. They are suspected to be in Indonesian and Malaysian territorial waters.

One of the illegal migrants on the boat in Indonesia identified by Australian and Indonesian media as Alex said he knew of the journey to Canada on board the Ocean Lady.

He said he was offered a place on the Ocean Lady, but chose the Australian venture because, at $15,000 U.S., it was much cheaper than the Canadian option.

However, Alex now said some on his boat wished they had chosen the boat heading for Canada.

Last weekend, the Tamils on the boat in Indonesia threatened to cause an explosion if they were not immediately resettled in Australia or another country.

"We can see some light. We hope we can receive the assurances about our future that will allow us to resolve the situation," said Alex, whose wife has just given birth to their third child in Sri Lanka. As well as the 254 Tamils, there is one Burmese man aboard the boat, which has only one toilet.

Those on board the Indonesian boat each paid human smugglers $15,000 U.S.. Parents even paid the full amount for newborn babies and young children.

The recent investigation into the Sri Lankan ships is expected to focus on Lauhenapessy, the Indonesian-based people smuggling kingpin.

As the Ocean Lady was heading toward Canada, Lauhenapessy was sailing on a wooden boat toward Christmas Island in the South Pacific with 254 asylum seekers planning to get into Australia. The asylum seekers had reportedly paid him a total of $4 million U.S..

Lauhenapessy turned the boat around close to the island because he missed a rendezvous with a smaller boat that was to pick him up, said Alex, who is acting as spokesman for the Tamils on the vessel.

"It was in the night and we were sleeping and we didn't know what was happening," Alex told Australian media by phone from the boat tied up at a wharf in West Java.

Lauhenapessy has reportedly brought more than 1,500 asylum seekers to Australia since he emerged as a pivotal organizer of Indonesia's people smuggling operations in 1999.

He turned the boat around and returned to Indonesia to avoid arrest as he could face up to 20 years in jail in Australia.

News of his presence on the boat in Indonesia has prompted Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to fly to Jakarta to seek a solution with the Indonesian government to stem the influx of asylum seekers into Australian waters.

Lauhenapessy, an Ambonese with strong links to a criminal network at Jakarta's main port, had been a top-priority target for Australian Federal Police for more than five years.

After eluding a number of elaborate "sting" operations by Australian and Indonesian police, including one in Cambodia in 2001, Lauhenapessy was eventually arrested in Jakarta in June 2007 following a long-term joint operation between the Australian Federal Police and Indonesian police.

An Indonesian court sentenced Lauhenapessy to two years in jail and fined him the equivalent of about $3,000 U.S. in December 2007 on charges of hiding, protecting, harbouring or providing a livelihood to people known to have entered Indonesia illegally.

The charges related to the arrival of 83 Sri Lankan asylum seekers in international waters off Australia in early 2007.

[milnews.ca]

Canada to take hard line with would-be migrants
Tamil Canadians urge compassion for the 76 men, believed to be from Sri Lanka
Jane Armstrong and John Ibbitson, Globe & Mail, 20 Oct 09
Article link

Canada's Immigration Minister has signalled that he intends to play hardball with 76 men believed to be from Sri Lanka who arrived on a rusty boat off Canada's West Coast, as the government battles the perception of Canada as a soft touch for asylum seekers.

While Tamil Canadians have urged Canadian officials to show compassion, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told The Globe and Mail yesterday that that the migrants' illegal arrival highlights the growing problem of human smuggling.

The Conservative government has said it believes many refugee claims are bogus and has promised tougher legislation.

“We don't want to develop a reputation of having a two-tier immigration system – one tier for legal, law-abiding immigrants who patiently wait to come to the country, and a second tier who seek to come through the back door, typically through the asylum system,” Mr. Kenney said in an interview.

“We need to do a much better job of shutting the back door of immigration for those who seek to abuse that asylum system.” ....

Notorious people-smuggler may be tied to B.C.-bound migrant ship
Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun, 19 Oct 09
Article link

A notorious people-smuggler arrested in Australia may be behind a boatload of would-be asylum-seekers being held in Vancouver.

The 76 asylum-seekers, believed to be from Sri Lanka, were taken into custody by the Canada Border Services Agency, after their ship, Ocean Lady, was apprehended off Vancouver Island on Friday.

The CBSA has refused to release any details about the passengers, including where they came from, their identities or where they're being held.

Canada's immigration ministry did not return calls by The Sun's deadline and Australia's foreign affairs department wouldn't comment.

But Australian media reports suggest the Canada-bound migrants may be linked to other would-be Sri Lankan asylum seekers found on a wooden cargo boat off the coast of Indonesia more than a week ago.

That boat, skippered by convicted human-smuggler Abraham Lauhenapessy, also known as Captain Bram, was headed toward Australia's Christmas Island with 254 Sri Lankan asylum seekers when it was intercepted off the coast of western Java....

Canada now part of shadowy global smuggling pipeline
TU THANH HA, Globe & Mail, 20 Oct09
Article link

With the arrival of 76 illegal immigrants aboard the Ocean Lady, Canada joins a global smuggling pipeline where thousands of Tamils, Afghans or Iraqis risk their lives in the waters between Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.

In this shadowy world, millions of dollars are secretly exchanged, staffers at the Indonesian embassy in Kabul take bribes, Tamils transit through jungle camps in Malaysia and luckless Afghans die when their boat explodes as it is boarded by Australian sailors.

From a beat-up wooden ship moored in a Javanese port, comes the story of 254 Tamil migrants who, according to a passenger calling himself Alex, couldn't afford the $45,000 (all figures U.S.) to board the Ocean Lady to Canada.

Instead, they paid $15,000 each for a boat to Australia - but were caught by the Indonesian navy.

Now, they can only envy their 76 fellow Tamils who are poised to seek refugee status in Canada....

[George Wallace]

What worries me most is what kind of Islamic fundamentalists, Tamil Tiger sympathizers, or other subversive element, may be amongst these men.

[ModlrMike]

Hmmm... they can afford $45000 each to come here, yet they're poor, mistreated, exploited victims. Send them back, I say!

[x512er]

Hmmm... they can afford $45000 each to come here, yet they're poor, mistreated, exploited victims. Send them back, I say!

And scuttle the ship!

[FastEddy]

What worries me most is what kind of Islamic fundamentalists, Tamil Tiger sympathizers, or other subversive element, may be amongst these men.

Your right George, but we won't know the half of it, after tens of millions of dollars and making Lawyers rich. Then some Commission or Righteous Judge will grant them Asylum or Entry.

Then its the Provinces turn to provide Housing, Medical, Employment and Financial Aid. I certainally hope none of them speak any French, because you know where they'll end up, just what we need. That's a very strange thing, because if you don't, and happen to be a Licensed Doctor or Nurse, your not Welcome here.

As George pointed out, what Subversive or Fanatical elements are lurking or sleeping among them. As for weeding them out, we sure have a hell of record in that area. They probably end up suing the Government.

It seems Canada is becoming the Dumping Ground of choice for the all the Garbage of the World.

Its only my opinion, but if you plant Corn you get Corn, if you plant Apple Trees you get Apples. If you plant Garbage, you still have Garbage.

Of course we have lots of money that's why our ER's are stacked up in corridors, cut backs in our Military, cut backs and reductions in our Police and Fire Depts.

Of course we can't just seize their Ship, arrest their Captain and Crew and throw them in Jail for ten years. Put the Illegals on the next plane to where ever they came from.

[GAP]

We also have to remember that these are not the poor "boat people" who sold/borrowed everything to get on a rickety leaking boat and take their chances....these guys paid $45,000 a piece for this trip...the economy cruise went to Australia.....

[hamiltongs]

We also have to remember that these are not the poor "boat people" who sold/borrowed everything to get on a rickety leaking boat and take their chances....these guys paid $45,000 a piece for this trip...the economy cruise went to Australia.....

Bear in mind that "paid" in this case probably means "agreed to pay" - i.e. out of future earnings they expected to make here in Canada. Even still, I'm not greatly sympathetic to the refugee claim - there are lots of places Sri Lankan Tamils can take refuge that don't cost $45,000 to get to. The Tamil Nadu in India, for instance.

These are clearly economic migrants. And not very promising ones, either.

[Colin P]

The $45,000 raised is likely a "loan" as mentioned or the entire wealth of the extended family paid to get one person to Canada in the hopes they ill be able to pay off the debt and send money home. I am not sure "economic refugees" is a totally accurate term, to play the devils advocate, how many here would take the same risks with their lives and family fortunes in the hope to have a better life for our kids?

[hamiltongs]

I am not sure "economic refugees" is a totally accurate term, to play the devils advocate, how many here would take the same risks with their lives and family fortunes in the hope to have a better life for our kids?

Sure I would. There are literally hundreds of millions of poor people in straightened circumstances in impoverished countries around the world who would do the same if they could. But I - and they - wouldn't be refugees from a crisis. We would be economic migrants seeking a better quality of life.

I can feel sympathy for these people and their desires, while also recognizing that the only thing standing between Canada's present circumstances and a Bangladesh-style situation is that we only allow in  hundred thousand or so outsiders each year. We reserve those spots for legitimate immigrants who bring skills and added value to the country (and who use the proper, legal channels - which are, if nothing else, a way of selecting moral, law-abiding people), and to genuine refugees from crises. I don't get the impression that these folks fall into either of those categories.

[old medic]

I see some blanket speculation here.
If it was a matter of agreeing to pay, or a loan, or working it off, they would all be here.

[gcclarke]

Let's just say I'd have a lot more sympathy for these people if they had arrived this time last year. As it is, pulling this after the civil war in your country has ended isn't exactly tugging on my heart-strings.

[George Wallace]

It could have been a "slow boat from China Sri Lanka"

[milnews.ca]

Canada tipped off to migrant ship
'Foreign intelligence' tracked migrants
Stewart Bell and Brian Hutchinson, National Post, 21 Oct 09
Article link

Canadian officials were tipped off at least a week in advance that a boatload of Sri Lankan migrants was on its way to the West Coast to seek asylum, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Police were canvassing members of Toronto's large Sri Lankan community two weeks ago for information about the freighter, which was located on Thursday and entered Canadian waters early Saturday.

A Canadian Forces crew piloted the ship to Vancouver Island and the 76 men on board are being detained in Maple Ridge, B. C., while the Immigration Refugee Board decides whether to release them ....

RCMP works with Sri Lanka to ID Tamil migrants
CBC.ca, 20 Oct 09
Article link

Canadian investigators have confirmed they are working with the government of Sri Lanka to determine the identities of 76 men taken into custody on a boat off Vancouver Island over the weekend.

Most of the men are believed to be Tamils from Sri Lanka, fleeing the aftermath of the country's violent civil war.

That makes the men's nationality and whether they might have links to the Tamil Tigers, a group listed as a banned terrorist organization, a sensitive issue for the Canadian government.

Sri Lanka has been battered by decades of civil war with ongoing allegations of serious human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict — the Tamil Tigers and the government....

Board retains two migrants out of fear they wouldn't reappear
Kelly Sinoski and Amy O'Brian, Vancouver Sun, 21 Oct 09
Article link

Two of 76 asylum-seekers apprehended on a rusty ship on the weekend should continue to be detained because of fears they won't reappear if released, an immigration review board member ordered Tuesday.

The detention hearing was the first to be held since the 76 men, believed to be Tamils from Sri Lanka, were detained on the weekend.

Hearings for the remaining 74 have not yet been scheduled.

Board member Leeann King's order for the continued detention of the two followed a report by Kamal Gill, a representative of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Gill said the Canada Border Services Agency has been unable to complete its examination of all 76 migrants, including the two men.

The 76 have been held at the Fraser Regional Correctional facility since the Canada Border Services Agency intercepted their vessel at Ogden Point, off Vancouver Island....


Hearings begin for migrants arrested off Canada
Agence France-Presse, 21 Oct 09
Article link

Detention hearings began for two of 76 migrants who were arrested Saturday on a mystery ship off Canada's coast and are believed to be Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka.

Immigration adjudicator Leeann King of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board ruled late Tuesday that the first two of the migrants to receive hearings will remain in detention and slapped a publication ban on their identities.

But King denied an application filed by lawyers for the migrants that sought to ban the public from all hearings.

The men were detained by police on Friday, after the military seized a mysterious freighter called the "Ocean Lady" off Canada's west coast.

Officials have said they suspect human smuggling in the case, and Canada's government has warned it will crack down on migrants who jump formal refugee and immigration queues to make refugee claims.

"We need to do a much better job of shutting the back door of immigration for those who seek to abuse that asylum system," Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told The Globe and Mail newspaper....

[milnews.ca]

Well, THAT didn't take long, did it?

Release Detained Asylum Seekers! Status for All! Fire Jason Kenney!
Attributed to blackandred, http://mostlywater.org, 21 Oct 09
Posting link

RELEASE DETAINED ASYLUM SEEKERS!
END RESTRICTIVE IMMIGRATION POLICIES AND FIRE JASON KENNEY!
STATUS FOR ALL!

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Friday October 23, 12-1 pm
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
300 West Georgia (corner of Hamiton)
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Join No One is Illegal-Vancouver in a National Day of Action to call for the immediate release of detained asylum seekers and an end to racist and restrictive immigration policies!

Surviving a long and arduous journey, 76 Tamil Migrants are currently being detained and imprisoned after arriving on Vancouver shores in pursuit of a safer future. All remain in detention, with minimal access to community and legal support in contravention of their basic human rights, while Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney perpetuates false and dehumanizing stereotypes of asylum seekers as 'illegals', 'criminals', and so-called queue jumpers....


NOII-Vancouver: Uphold the Rights of 76 Migrants Aboard Ocean Lady
Attributed to blackandred, http://mostlywater.org, 20 Oct 09
Posting link

The immigrant and refugee rights group No One Is Illegal is demanding that officials respect the human rights of the seventy six migrants who arrived aboard the ship Ocean Lady this weekend off the shores of Vancouver Island. No One Is Illegal will be working with other community organizations and legal support networks to ensure the migrants are treated justly and with respect and dignity.

According to Peggy Lee, member of No One Is Illegal, “Public officials and the media must refrain from stereotyping these migrants as illegals or criminals. They have survived a long and arduous journey in the hopes that the Canadian state will fully comply with its international refugee and human rights law obligations.” On September 17, 2009 the UN Human Rights Council publicly condemned the practice of unnecessary immigration-related detention and demanded that irregular migrants must be protected against arbitrary deprivation of liberty and inhuman treatment. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned that “The association of irregular migration with criminality promotes the stigmatization of migrants and encourages a climate of xenophobia and hostility against them.”....

More on links

[Colin P]

Just after the first abandoned migrant boats was found back in the 90’s I was up working in the Queen Charlottes and one of the Mates of the BC Ferries told me that just before the boat was found, about 30-40 Chinese guys in ill-fitting and suitcases boarded the BC Ferry back to the Mainland, the Captain called Customs to advise them, but as the ferry was going to arrive afterhours the Customs declined to come out to meet them because of a overtime freeze.

[milnews.ca]

According to "sources familiar with the investigation" speaking to CanWest News Service, a man Interpol is interested enough in to post an online notice (poster attached) about is one of the 76 boat folks.

Sri Lankan media say, "Police spokesman Nimal Mediweka said the suspect was being hunted down while in the island and that he had fled the country prompting the Sri Lankan authorities to issue a red notice with the Interpol for his arrest. DIG Mediweka said an inquiry was now underway in Canada after which the authorities would decide if the suspect would be deported to Sri Lanka."

The man in the Interpol notice is accused of "terrorism", but, according to the Globe & Mail, "his lawyer, Hadayt Nazami, said “a lot of innocent Tamils are being persecuted by the government and accused of all kinds of things.” Mr. Nazami is one of several lawyers based in Toronto who was recently hired to represent detainees on the West Coast."

[PMedMoe]

Explosive residue on migrants' clothing
Tamils' lawyers say chemicals found on clothes could have another source
Article link

Authorities investigating the 76 migrants aboard a ship seized off Vancouver Island told an immigration hearing Monday that two items of clothing the men brought with them tested positive for explosive residue.

Investigators also say there had been an attempt to disguise the ship's identity and that the vessel actually belongs to the Tamil Tigers, an alleged terrorist organization banned by the federal government.

The ship carrying the men was seized Oct. 17 after Australian intelligence officials apparently tipped off Canadian authorities about its impending arrival.

Only one of the 76 migrants, believed to be a minor, has been released. The 75 others remain in custody in Vancouver while authorities try to establish whether they are a security risk to Canada.

Lawyers for the men said they are refugees who were on the losing side in the long Sri Lankan civil war, and who were escaping persecution in their homeland.

More on link

[Greymatters]

Lawyers for the men said they are refugees who were on the losing side in the long Sri Lankan civil war, and who were escaping persecution in their homeland.

One of the side-effects of fighting against the government in place - you get 'persecuted' if you lose...

[Journeyman]

Article Link

Tamil Tigers look to regroup in Canada: expert

The Tamil Tigers organization hopes to use Canada as a strategic base to continue the fight against the government of Sri Lanka, according to an authority on the alleged terrorist group.

"I cannot think of any other country that is more important for the Tamil Tigers as Canada, to regroup and continue their campaign against Sri Lanka," said Prof. Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, a Singapore-based think-tank.

Gunaratna is advising the Canadian government as it investigates the 75 Tamil migrants currently in immigration custody in Vancouver. The men were found aboard a ship seized off the coast of British Columbia on Oct. 17.

Lawyers for the men have said they are not Tamil Tigers, but Gunaratna disagreed.

"There are many members of the Tamil Tigers on board that vessel," Gunaratna said in an interview from Singapore.
------
One of the lawyers for the men has accused Gunaratna of bias because of his past association with Sri Lanka's government.......from my point of view, Mr. Gunaratna is not credible"....

Complete article at link

Since this country single-handedly raised the most money for the Tamil Tigers, it shouldn't be surprising that more of them are coming here now.

As for Gunaratna's "lacking credibility," there aren't too many people out there who have followed LTTE that closely, for as long. I guess the lawyers missed the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, or even typing "Gunaratna" into Amazon.ca.


Edit to change quote colour to black, for easier reading

[milnews.ca]

...when it comes to the ship.

Globe & Mail version....

"I am satisfied that some weight must be given to Dr. Gunaratna's assertions concerning the LTTE's connections to the MV Easwary and find that it is possible that it is still an LTTE-controlled ship," (Immigration and Refugee Board adjudicator Lynda) Mackie said. "It is possible, even probable, that some of the men on board have links to the LTTE," she wrote....

...versus the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence version

Canadian government yesterday, (08 Dec) ruled MV Princess Eashwary later renamed as MV Ocean Lady as a LTTE ship that was used to transport and smuggle arms and ammunitions to the LTTE.

Further, the sources revealed that there are several number of sea tigers among the crew and another leader called Kobal who claimed to be the second in command of LTTE's Kutti Sri Artillery Regiment is also among them.

According to informed sources, Ravi Shankar Kanagarajah alias Shangili, a most wanted transnational terrorist is the owner of MV Ocean Lady alias Princess Eashwary. He has been extensively involving in human smuggling activities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand etc.

In addition, the sources further revealed that Kamal Raj known to be the captain of the vessel and involved in almost every supply of military cargo to the LTTE ....

[old medic]

First arrests in Ocean Lady human smuggling investigation
Stewart Bell
14 June 2011

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/06/14/first-arrests-in-ocean-lady-human-smuggling-investigation/

TORONTO — RCMP officers arrested four men in the Toronto area on Tuesday in connection with the MV Ocean Lady, the freighter that brought 76 illegal migrants to Canada’s West Coast more than a year-and-a-half ago.

The arrests are the first stemming from RCMP investigations into human smuggling networks in Southeast Asia that have sent hundreds of Sri Lankan refugee claimants to Canada aboard two freighters.

The RCMP was expected to announce the arrests at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. But sources confirmed to the National Post that the four arrests had been made on Tuesday morning in connection with Project E-Panurgic.

The Ocean Lady was seized off the British Columbia coast in October 2009. The 76 Sri Lankans on board had sailed from Indonesia and Thailand, with most paying thousands of dollars in fees to smuggling agents.

After the ship was escorted to Victoria, the men all made refugee claims and were released by the Immigration and Refugee Board. Almost all have since moved to Toronto, home to one of the world’s largest Sri Lankan Tamil communities.

An RCMP investigation called Project E-Panurgic had been probing a dozen of those found on the Ocean Lady who were suspected of involvement in the smuggling operation. The RCMP had been seeking charges against the man allegedly in charge of the vessel, Vignarajah Thevarajah, as well as the suspected captain, Hamalraj Handasamy, and assistant engineer, Francis Monohoran Anthonimuthu Appulonappa. All three were allegedly in the wheelhouse when RCMP officers boarded the vessel.

A classified Public Prosecution Service of Canada memo obtained by the National Post says several of the migrants had identified the bosses of the ship during interviews with RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency officers.

Anyone convicted of helping more than ten undocumented migrants enter Canada faces up to life imprisonment and a $1-million fine under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. The Conservatives have drafted a bill that would toughen Canada’s anti-human smuggling policies but it has not yet been made into law.

Crown prosecutors have decided to proceed with direct indictments, which means they will skip preliminary hearings and go straight to trial. This can take place with the approval of the Attorney General when there has been a significant delay in bringing a matter to trial, where witnesses are in danger or to ensure public confidence.

Ten months after the Ocean Lady reached Canada, a second ship called the MV Sun Sea made a similar voyage carrying 492 Sri Lankans who had boarded in southern Thailand. The same smugglers are suspected of involvement in both ships as well as a third that was stopped and another that police believe is still being organized.

[milnews.ca]

RCMP news release on above attached.