SLBFE to halt human smuggling

   
In a bid to stop human trafficking, the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) has initiated a tri-party programme in conjunction with the Department of Immigration and Emigration and the Sri Lanka police to seize forged passports and arrest offenders.

During the past one-and-a-half months the bureau arrested 33 suspects who were attempting to migrate using forged passports and illegal documents.

SLBFE Chairman Kingsley Ranawake, said, under the programme initiated in collaboration with the Internal Affairs Ministry, the bureau would be vested with powers to arrest, investigate and take legal action against persons who violate the Immigration Act.

“Earlier when we nabbed a person for possessing forged documents, we were unable to take action against him or her other than recording a statement. The suspects would later be handed over to police while forged passports and other documents were handed over to the Immigration Department. Now we can handle the whole operation right up to the prosecution of offenders” Mr. Ranawake added.

He said the new programme would play a major role in eliminating human trafficking in addition to stopping the practice of sending underage children to foreign countries as workers on forged passports.

Under the programme two police personnel in each police division would be exclusively designated for this purpose. The bureau would train these officers to detect forged passports and documents to help them detect and arrest culprits.