The National Immigration Agency yesterday said that a Spanish couple suspected of trying to smuggle two young Sri Lankans out of Taiwan to Canada were arrested on Thursday.
The suspects were arrested at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport when they attempted to flee the country after coming under investigation following the arrest of the Sri Lankans on Sunday, immigration agency officials said.
The trail to the Spaniards began when the Sri Lankans — an 18-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman — pretended to be transit passengers en route to Vancouver with fake Indian passports and Canadian visas, officials said.
Photo: CNA
Immigration officials saw through them because the two Sri Lankans “looked confused and relatively young” among a group of about 30 Indian transit passengers preparing to take the same flight, the agency said.
After the Sri Lankans were arrested, immigration officials concluded from airport surveillance footage and information from representatives of foreign countries that people traffickers were involved in the attempt to get the Sri Lankans to Canada.
The agency expanded the investigation and after collecting evidence it asked Taoyuan prosecutors to issue an arrest warrant for the two Spaniards.
Before the suspects could be found, they arrived at the airport hoping to flee, but instead were taken into custody and handed over to Taoyuan prosecutors.
The prosecutors did not prosecute the two Sri Lankans after finding that they were traveling based on arrangements made by their family members and knew very little about the smuggling operation, the agency said.
The Sri Lankans were deported yesterday morning.
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