The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) has received 15 complaints as of yesterday (01) against alleged human trafficking in Laos. Many Sri Lankan youths had been stranded in Laos on the false assurance of finding them employment opportunities in Thailand.
All these complaints have been received against Ruwan Pathirana, an English teacher from Ambalanthota who has already been arrested by the Bureau and remanded, and a local government candidate Anura Senaratne who is said to have aided him.
All the complaints have been made by the youths in the Southern Province. The SLBFE said that except for a few, the rest of the Sri Lankans are still stranded in Laos.
These traffickers had previously taken four young women and a young man first to Thailand and then to Laos. The traffickers had received USD 5,000 each from a Chinese company for supplying employees.
The investigations revealed that the youths were taken by the main suspect’s son to Thailanda, sold them to the Chinese company and returned to Sri Lanka. Investigations have been launched to arrest him as well.
