The Sri Lanka Navy seized two suspicious local multiday fishing trawlers with 45 persons, during patrols carried out in the Southern and Western seas.
SLNS Gajabahu patrolling in southern waters held a local multiday fishing trawler suspiciously plying off the southern coast with 26 persons aboard. In the same vein, Fast Attack Craft P 481 of the 04th Fast Attack Flotilla intercepted another suspicious local multiday fishing trawler carrying 19 people, during a patrol conducted in the Western sea area on Friday.
The suspects aboard two multiday fishing trawlers, are residents of Kalpitiya, Chilaw, Puttalam, Negombo and Kilinochchi areas.
These persons were suspected to be on an illegal migration attempt to a foreign country via sea routes. Following political developments in different parts of the world, human traffickers tend to plot illegal migration journeys, deceiving innocent people for a fast buck. In such a backdrop, the Navy continues to urge the public to refrain from risking their lives and property by embarking on perilous sea voyages by unseaworthy vessels.