The detention of 151 Lankans off the Kollam coast on Sunday night leads to the suspicion that the LTTE is making an attempt to regroup in far-off countries like Australia.

The Kerala coast is emerging as a hot transit spot for Sri Lankan Tamils who seek illegal migration, thanks to the easy availability of fishing boats and the frequent movement of boats along the Kerala coast.

In the last two years, the police have foiled the attempts by nearly 300 Sri Lankans to illegally cross the border to Australia, through the Kerala coast. This includes the 151 detained in Kollam on Sunday night.

Intelligence agencies strongly suspect that the frequent illegal migration is part of the LTTE's attempts to regroup its cadres. But the LTTE cadres have denied this charge.

The state police is not too concerned about the illegal migration, as it does not pose any security threat to the state. “The Sri Lankans are using the Kerala coast only as a transit point.

They were not found to be involved in any illegal activity in the state, and hence, we usually sent them back to the refugee camps from where they reach here,” said Sheik Darvesh Shahib, IG Thiruvananthapuram range.

Intelligence sources believe that among the illegal migrants, a majority might not have any LTTE links. However, there might be a couple of LTTE followers among them.

Earlier, there were intelligence inputs of the LTTE cadres trying to regroup from various European countries, said sources.

Meanwhile, the state police do not rule out the possibility of many Sri Lankans crossing the border, unchecked.

Sri Lankan native Sundararaja Sivakumar alias Siva, 50, who was held in connection with the trafficking of 37 Sri Lankans from Kollam coast last year, had confessed that more than 1,500 Sri Lankan natives were trafficked to countries like Australia, France and Canada through the sea off the Kerala and Tamil Nadu coasts in 35 boats, during the last couple of years.

Easy availability of boats, the heavy movement of boats along the Kerala coast and minimum chances of being held are cited by intelligence sources as the reasons why the illegal migrants opt for the Kerala coast.

A majority of those held are from various Sri Lankan refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. There are agents who woo the refugees to migrate illegally, by offering them citizenship in Australia and other European countries.

Agents collect up to Rs 50,000 from each individual and arrange the boats. The Sri Lankans used to arrive in the state in small groups.The 151- member group held from Kollam had reached the state through the Madurai - Shenkottai route.

Central intelligence sources said that the agents always ensured the presence of women and children in the group so as to avoid the risk of being suspected by security personnel, while coming to the transit point.

“They consider Kerala as a safe place, as Sri Lankan Tamils would be considered only as Tamilians while in Kerala, whereas they could be easily identified as Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu,” said sources.

In the previous instances of illegal migrations of Sri Lankans, the police had registered case against the agents who facilitated the migrants and the Sri Lankans were made witnesses. However, the real motive behind the illegal migration still remains a mystery.

Police quizzes refugees, case against 27

Police on Monday slapped visa violation cases on 27 Sri Lankan natives, caught here late Sunday night while trying to leave for Australia by a boat.

They were part of a group of 151 people __148 of them Sri Lankans. And all of them were nabbed by police during their bid to illegal migration bid. Among the Sri Lankans, 121 were from 17 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu.

They were now being questioned by police along with CBI and RAW officials.

It was local people who first spotted a group of 18 Tamilians near Kavanadu here on Sunday evening and they immediately alerted the police.

Subsequently, the police, with the help of the Coast Guard, intercepted the fishing boat that was thickly packed with illegal migrants. The 27 Sri Lankans were from Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Jaffna and three, from Tamil Nadu.

One person, identified as Dinesh, who was among those who arranged the boat and other logistics for the illegal migration, was being quizzed by a police team led by Kollam city police commissioner Debesh Kumar Behera.

Sakthikulangara natives Alex and Johnson, who earlier owned a fishing boat, told the police that they recently sold the boat for `13 lakh, but did not know the identity of the buyers.

The refugees told the police that they had paid huge amounts to the agents. “I left Vavuniya along with my wife and three children on June 2 after paying Rs 2 lakh to an agent. We had to dispose of all our property to raise the funds. After reaching Chennai by air, we headed towards Kollam via Madurai, Shenkottai,” one of the migrants said.

Assistant commissioner of police, Thomson Jose, said that the police was in touch with the Refugee Commissioner at Chennai and steps would be taken to sent the refugees back to the camps.

Hellish refugee camps in TN

The harsh life inside the refugee camps in various parts of Tamil Nadu, was the motive behind the desire to flee.

As the refugees were taken to the police camp in the city, they were seen pleading with the Kerala police not to send them back to the camps from where they had fled.

“It’s hell; we are only refugees to them. The Q Branch who is looking after us are inhuman. Our men who tried to flee earlier, were taken into lock-ups and severely punished.

Every day we are allowed to get out only after 6 am and we have to be back before 8 pm. We lack sufficient rations and our children are deprived of proper education and other amenities,” said a refugee.

“The agents who contacted us didn’t reveal the process of migration or the huge number of refugees involved in migrating. We were not bothered about the consequences since our aim was to win freedom and live happily.

I couldn’t identify the person who collected the money before entering the boat. Someone even tried to get down from the boat after realising that the voyage would take up to 18 days to reach Christmas Islands near Australia, where we were promised to be taken,” a young refugee told DC.

Another refugee requested that if they were to be sent back, it should be to the commissioner who is in charge of them. Otherwise, they will have to face torture from officers at the camp.

A majority of the refugees came across as being well qualified and most of them had relatives in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Indonesia.