Commenting on this, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has told ‘The Australian’ that close associates of the previous regime had carried out human smuggling and that such rackets were not possible without the support of the military, especially the Navy.

Lt. commander led the racket?

According to reports reaching ‘Sri Lanka Mirror’, a Lt. Commander of the Navy had led the racket.

The investigation into the racket has come to a standstill since this Lt. Commander and the top CID officer probing it were classmates at school.

The Navy man is to flee the country with his wife and two children, and the Australian high commission in Colombo has issued them with resident visa, reports say.

120 boats to Australia

Around 120 fishing trawlers had smuggled the people, between 100 to 150 in each boat and mostly Tamils, in the period from 2012 to 2013, from Jaffna, Mannar, Chilaw, Negombo, Wattala, Galle, Hambantota and Trincomalee.

The boat ride cost more than Rs. 01 million for each immigrant.

Skippering these fishing trawlers were civilians contracted by the Navy.