A suspect accused of facilitating the illegal travel of three people from Jaffna to Canada has been remanded by the Kilinochchi Magistrate’s Court until 19 June, NewsFirst reported.

The suspect was arrested in Kilinochchi by the Human Trafficking, Smuggling and Maritime Investigation Division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Police said the three Jaffna residents had left Sri Lanka en route to Canada via Ethiopia, but were taken hostage on arrival by an organised criminal gang operating in the East African country.

NewsFirst did not give further details on the identities of the suspect or the three victims, the route used, or the demands made by the gang. It was also not immediately clear whether Sri Lankan authorities are working with Ethiopian or Canadian counterparts to secure the release of the hostages.

The arrest adds to a widening CID push against illegal-migration networks operating out of the north. The Human Trafficking, Smuggling and Maritime Investigation Division has been the lead investigative unit on a series of overseas-job and travel-fraud cases this year, including a Romania-route racket that allegedly cost victims more than Rs. 920 million and a UNP organiser charged in a Dubai-route job scam in Bulathsinhala.

Sri Lankan migrants targeting Canada have in recent years turned to multi-leg routes through third countries — often via the Middle East or East Africa — as direct visa channels have tightened. The Ethiopian leg in this case follows a pattern flagged by international anti-trafficking groups, in which traffickers hand smuggled travellers off to criminal gangs in transit countries who then extort ransom payments from families.

Further investigations are continuing under the supervision of the CID.

Update — June 8: The three Jaffna nationals have been rescued in a joint operation by Sri Lankan and Ethiopian authorities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The victims told relatives during their captivity that the criminal gang holding them in Ethiopia had demanded a ransom for their release. Arrangements are under way to bring them back to Sri Lanka.

Further detail emerged later on Monday. The kidnappers had demanded a USD 90,000 ransom, Newswire reported, citing Fidel Post. Six suspects — two Ethiopians and four Pakistani nationals — were arrested over the abduction. The three Sri Lankans had arrived in Ethiopia on May 23 for work opportunities, only to be picked up directly from the airport in a Suzuki vehicle with a Code 2 licence plate. The investigation began on May 26 after the Sri Lankan Embassy reported the men missing to the Bole Sub-City Police Department. Investigators used digital surveillance to track the victims to a residential house in Shashemene, in Ethiopia’s Oromia Region, where security forces stormed the property, freed the hostages and detained the suspects without incident. The rescue was a joint operation by Ethiopia’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Federal Police, Information Network Security Administration (INSA) and the Oromia Regional Police.

Sources