Indian Coast Guard Apprehends Six Sri Lankan Nationals At Rameswaram For Illegally Entering India

The migration of Sri Lankan nationals comes at a time when the island nation is experiencing an aggravating economic crisis.

The apprehended Sri Lankan nationals | Credit: ABP Nadu

Chennai: The Indian Coast Guard apprehended six Sri Lankan nationals including three children from Rameswaram for illegally entering the Indian coast on Tuesday. The Sri Lankan nationals were caught while they tried to migrate illegally amid the aggravating economic crisis in the island nation. 

The illegal migration has also come up after two senior citizens died while waiting to purchase fuel in a long queue in Sri Lanka in the weekend. In the island, the price of cooking gas, milk powder, essential commodities etc., have also spiked. The authorities even cancelled the exams due to shortage of papers amid one of the worst crisis ever faced by Sri Lanka. 

However, this is not the first time illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka are entering Tamil Nadu's coast.

In September 2021, a suspect who was held under the charges of human trafficking confessed that he helped over 100 illegal immigrants enter Tamil Nadu through five different night trips on boats. Previous to the arrest of the kingpin, NIA arrested 38 Sri Lankans for illegally entering India on June 11, 2021. 

The Sri Lankan nationals came to Tamil Nadu in order to migrate to another foreign nation illegally without documents. Sri Lankan nationals paid heavy sums to two Tamil agents Ashok Kumar and Kasi Viswanathan in India since they promised of getting them highly paid jobs in Canada. 

However, after the arrest in 2021, the Coastal Security Group said that they have not received any official communication from NIA but they have increased the patrolling in the waters.