Investigative units, who are investigating the children trafficking from Sri Lanka to Malaysia have revealed that the traffickers have been compelled to send children to Europe through Malaysia due to low recognition of the Sri Lanka passport. Accordingly, they have sent children using fake Malaysia passports instead, investigation sources said.
The investigative units, which were investigating 17 children sent to Malaysia through this smuggling, confirmed this information after an extensive operation. The suspects have said that they sent children to Western countries, the UK, and Canada, It has been revealed that to refer to higher education activities in countries like Sweden.
All of the children reported to be trafficked were from the North and East. In this regard, the investigating teams with more attention had caught the eye of a local broker who provides facilities related to smuggling in Sri Lanka. After following this person for months, investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department’s Human Trafficking Investigation and Maritime Security Investigation Division revealed how the relevant broker was preparing to send a 14-year-old child residing in Jaffna to Malaysia.
Investigators who have been closely following him since then observed the smuggler, the 14-year-old child, and the child’s father boarding the flight to Kuala Lumpur last Monday (22). The investigators allowed them to leave for Kuala Lumpur and informed the Malaysian immigration authorities about the incident.
Acting on that information, the Malaysian Immigration Department arrived at the Kuala Lumpur airport arrested the broker, the 14-year-old child, and the father, and deported them back to Sri Lanka without allowing them to enter the country. These three returned to Katunayake International Airport last Wednesday (24). First, the immigration officers recorded the statements of the three who took them into custody and then handed them over to the Criminal Investigation Department.
Extensive investigations into the incident began after that. Accordingly, the Criminal Investigation Department revealed that the child was taken to Malaysia on a Malaysian passport to be sent to a European country for higher education.
According to a senior officer of the Human Trafficking, Smuggling Investigations, and Maritime Security Investigations Division of the Criminal Investigation Department, the Daily Mirror has reported that the 17 children who were illegally taken by smugglers from Sri Lanka to Malaysia in the first few months of 2023 were taken to send them to study in foreign countries. That reliable information has been received.
The officer, who completely rejected the idea of trafficking children for adoption or obtaining any physical organs, pointed out that due to the low acceptance of Sri Lankan passports in some Western countries.
