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With the escalating violence and the worsening food and fuel situation in the northeast, the Sri Lanka Navy is on full alert to prevent an increasing number of refugees attempting to enter Tamil Nadu illegally.

Thousands of Tamils including men, women and children are leaving their belongings behind to flee to India to escape the mounting tension and the fighting.

Navy Spokesman D.M.K. Dassanayake told The Sunday Times the navy had deployed more boats to patrol the Mannar coast which is believed to be the main departure point for refugees leaving to Tamil Nadu.

“There is a steady increase in the number of refugees fleeing to India. Large numbers are loaded onto small fiber glass dingies. There have been several instances where the boats have capsized.

Human smugglers are taking undue advantage of the present situation in the country and indulging in a human smuggling racket that is going on unabated,” he said.

Last Tuesday the navy arrested four Indian crew members and 18 refugees off the Mannar coast.

The refugees were attempting to flee to Tamil Nadu in a fishing trawler. The navy has obtained information about a major human smuggling racket that is being operated by a group of Indians.

According to navy reports the four Indian crew members were said to be linked to three other Indian human smugglers who were arrested on August 16 while attempting to take refugees to India.

The Indian human smugglers arrested in connection with the racket are facing extradition charges and are due to be deported to India.

The Sunday Times learns that the navy has apprehended some 600 Tamil refugees in August alone who had attempted to seek refuge in India.

It is learnt that most of the Tamil refugees who come from Mannar, Trincomalee and the Wanni pay the human smugglers a sum of Rs. 6,000 to 10,000 to get them to Tamil Nadu.

When the navy apprehends the refugees they are supposed to be paid a sum of Rs. 25,000 for resettlement by the respective local authority.

However The Sunday Times learns that most of the refugees who were apprehended and later resettled have not received the promised payment.

Navy sources said there were many refugees who had been apprehended on a number of occasions still attempting to enter Tamil Nadu illegally.

It is learnt that one reason for human smugglers to continue taking refugees to India was due to the leniency in the law.

In a human smuggling case which was taken up in the Mannar Magistrates court on August 8 the suspects were charged for attempting to take 13 refugees to Tamil Nadu. The court fined the smugglers Rs.100 each.

The Navy has also raised concern over the issue of LTTE cadres migrating to India and other countries under the pretext of being refugees.

Last week the Indonesian police arrested 13 LTTE operatives at a hotel in Pandeglang regency in the Banten province, about 100 km southwest of the county’s capital city of Jakarta.

An Indonesian Embassy spokesperson told The Sunday Times the LTTE operatives stayed at a hotel after their boat was stranded in the southern Java coast last Tuesday.

They were reportedly moving towards Australia and according to the Indonesian Police none of the detainees had travel documents.

The Indonesian police is said to be searching for seven more LTTE operatives who escaped when they raided the hotel and now there is a search operation conducted in the Banten Province to arrest the seven that escaped.

The 13 arrested persons were later identified as Surenthran (28), K. Antharan (29), Niththiyangan (24), Suthan (23), Thas (29), Angram (22), Kopiran (28), Vikki (23), Suren (24), Kayam (23), Sinnathamby (23), Tholapathi (29), and Raj (23).

United Nations High Commission for Refugees said a total of 11, 057 Tamils belonging to 3,287 families had arrived in Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka’s north and east since the start of the year.

The latest batch of 259 refugees reached the Tamil Nadu coast last Tuesday. Most of the refugees who arrive in Tamil Nadu are said to be sheltered in camps in Rameswaram and Mandapam which are small fishing villages.

The UNHCR spokesperson Lyndon Jeffels told The Sunday Times that one of the major problems faced by refugees fleeing to India is boats capsizing in rough seas. According to UNHCR 25 refugees have been reported to have died by trying to reach Tamil Nadu due to their boats capsizing.