Canada's role in Thailand arrests queried

[CHIMO]

Source: CBC News

Immigration advocates say Canada may have contravened international law if it had any role in the arrest of more than 150 Tamil migrants in Thailand on Monday, even if they were headed for Canada.

Thai immigration officials and police raided 17 apartment buildings in suburban Bangkok, arresting 155 Sri Lankan migrants accused of being in Thailand illegally while awaiting transport elsewhere.

The migrants appeared in a Bangkok criminal court Tuesday, where they were charged with being in the country illegally, Bangkok-based journalist Michael McAuliffe reported.

Many of the migrants are believed to have entered Thailand on two-week tourist visas that have since expired, and many are believed to be Tamils, McAuliffe said. It is believed they were using Thailand as a transit point before shipping off to a third country, possibly Canada, he said.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/10/12/thailand-migrant-arrest.html

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010 | 7:47 PM ET