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.
