A special counter will be set up at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) from today to screen outgoing Sri Lankan passengers holding visit visas to check human trafficking, the fleeing of known criminals and other irregularities, officials of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) and the military said yesterday.
The counter will have personnel from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), State Intelligence Service (SIS), Immigration and Emigration and the SLBFE who will examine the travel and other documents of those intending to leave the country on visit visas, Deputy General Manager Training and Media at the SLBFE Senarath Yapa told the Sunday Observer.
He said the counter known as the Safe Migration Promotion Unit was aimed at preventing the trafficking of persons and will also demonstrate to the international community that Sri Lanka is taking tough measures to tackle illegal migration.
The counter will be set up on the recommendations of the Anti National Trafficking Task Force and the target group would be mainly females since they are the most vulnerable victims of human traffickers, Yapa said.
He said that hundreds, if not thousands of Sri Lankans mainly females are known to have left the country on visit visas and later searched for employment on arrival in foreign capitals mainly in West Asia.
The unit would also monitor the movements of wanted criminals and their associates seeking to leave the country to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and elsewhere, he said.
He said that the BIA had turned into a hub for human trafficking at times with the collaboration of some corrupt officials.
The Sunday Observer in its issue on August 6 reported that the BIA had turned into a human trafficking hub with the connivance of errant officials.
A group of 58 Sri Lankans mostly women were repatriated from Kuwait earlier this week and more are expected to follow in the coming weeks, Yapa said.
Another 42 Sri Lankans were currently being held at safe houses in the UAE, 13 in Oman, 12 in Riyadh and five in Jeddah and they are expected to be repatriated to the country in the coming weeks, he said.
Seven Sri Lankans were nabbed by the Jordanian authorities after they attempted to illegally cross the border into Israeli earlier this week. The seven were arrested by border forces and handed over to the relevant authorities for follow-up action.
The Jordanian-Israeli border has witnessed instances of infiltration in previous years by people seeking employment in the Jewish State. According to Israeli authorities, 52 people illegally infiltrated from Jordan last year and 23 in the first quarter of this year including many Sri Lankans.
The authorities have also stopped the Visa on Arrival facility for citizens from eight countries although they could not be named owing to diplomatic reasons, the military said.
However, citizens from these countries could still apply for a visit visa through the online system where their credentials will be checked by the Defence authorities prior to issuing an entry visa, a senior official said.