A major human smuggling racket to send Sri Lankan women to South India as potential sex workers was busted when Immigration authorities nabbed an Indian man with two local women at the Bandaranaike International Airport on Saturday.

A special investigation team of the Department of Immigration and Emigration in plain clothing at the BIA Departure Terminal carrying out routine surveillance operations noticed suspicious movements of three passengers bound for Chennai, India, immigration sources said.

When they were taken in for questioning the authorities were managed to break through an organised human smuggling racket, which had been carried out for several months with the involvement of an Indian man and an Indian woman.

Initially, one of the local women had said that she was traveling to Chennai with her female friend, who is going to get married to the male Indian national. But when they were separated and grilled a different story came out.

At further questioning the local women had admitted that they were being taken for potential job opportunities at massage parlors in Chennai for a promised salary. The Indian male had acted as the carrier whilst the main suspect had been identified as a Sri Lankan man living in Mount Lavinia.

The immigration authorities had then with the assistance of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had raided an apartment in Mount Lavinia, where they were able to arrest the main suspect along with his Indian wife.

The sleuths also found 15 passports of Sri Lankan women from the apartment, suspected to be smuggled into Chennai for the same purpose. The authorities suspect the women were promised jobs at spas, the actual purpose of their visits would be prostitution.

Preliminary investigations had revealed that the main suspect along with the assistance of his Indian wife had masterminded this human smuggling racket and deploying the Indian male arrested at the BIA as their carrier.

Deputy Controller Investigations M. G. V. Kariyawasam and the team are conducting inquires on the instructions of Immigration and Emigration Controller General Pasan Ratnayake. The arrested suspects had been handed over to the CID for further investigations. (Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana)