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75 Sri Lankans end 2-day boat standoff in Malaysia
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75 Sri Lankans end 2-day boat standoff in Malaysia
By JULIA ZAPPEI,Associated Press Writer -
2 hours 14 minutes ago
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Seventy-five illegal Sri Lankan immigrants on their way to Australia have left a leaking boat that was in danger of capsizing, ending a two-day standoff with Malaysian authorities, officials said Monday.
Police stopped the fishing trawler Friday during a routine patrol and towed it to a base in northern Penang state, marine police official Rosli Sufian said.
The immigrants initially refused to leave the boat, demanding assurance that they would be given asylum. Rosli said the Sri Lankans eventually relented and disembarked Sunday when police boarded the boat.
He declined to say whether any assurances were given. The Sri Lankans have been detained in a center for illegal immigrants until it can be assessed whether they are refugees or human trafficking victims.
"Of course they were reluctant and quite aggressive," he said. "The boat had a problem. Most probably it was going to capsize ... We couldn't let them drown."
Rosli said the boat crew is believed to have escaped when police approached the boat at sea. The boat still is afloat near a beach, he said.
Another group of 36 Sri Lankans was also arrested Friday near a riverbank in neighboring Perak state together with two Malaysians believed to be agents who were arranging their journey as part of a smuggling syndicate, Rosli said.
Dzuraidi Ibrahim, head of investigations in Perak, said the two Malaysians remain in custody and are being probed for allegedly trafficking the Sri Lankans _ an offense that carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years upon conviction.
Rosli said the Sri Lankans on the boat, including about a dozen children, were hoping to reach Australia to seek asylum there. He did not know whether they were ethnic Tamils.
The U.N. refugee agency has not assessed their refugee claims yet, according to spokesperson Yante Ismail.
People from war-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka have increasingly used Malaysia as a transit point to try to sneak into Australia by boat, hoping for better lives there. A number of them have died at sea when their rickety, overcrowded boats sank.
Sri Lankan Tamils fled their homeland in thousands during a 25-year civil war, which ended last year after the government defeated the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels. Many Tamils had sought refuge in Australia, but Canberra suspended refugee applications from Afghans and Sri Lankans last month, citing improved security conditions there.
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