COLOMBO: A senior Sri Lankan navy officer has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle people to Australia.
Police allege Lieutenant Commander Sanjeewa Annatugoda, based at the Trincomalee Navy Camp in Sri Lanka’s north-east, has been involved in a large-scale human-smuggling operation, sending asylum seekers to Australia and other countries.
He joins three sailors and one civilian working for the navy who were arrested last month after a boatload of more than 100 asylum seekers was intercepted as it left Sri Lankan waters.
Navy spokesperson Commander Kosala Warnakulasuriya has confirmed the arrest of the officer and said an internal investigation had begun.
The arrest of a naval officer is an embarrassment for the Sri Lankan government, which has consistently maintained no naval or government personnel are involved in people smuggling.
In March, Fairfax exclusively reported that navy sailors and officers were widely believed to be complicit in, and profiting from, people-smuggling rings.
Commander Warnakulasuriya told Fairfax then the allegations were baseless. ”There is no truth to them. No one has ever presented any proof that the navy or any government personnel is involved.”
Australia provides several million dollars in training and support to the Sri Lankan navy to help it stop asylum-seeker boats.
The number of Sri Lankan asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat jumped from 211 in 2011 to 6428 last year. So far this year, 1957 Sri Lankans have arrived by boat to claim asylum, the third-largest group behind Iranians and Afghans. A total of 18,916 people have arrived in 2013.
