The Immigration Department and Police are trying to apprehend more illegal immigrants living in the country upon information provided by 13 Indian Nationals, who are detained at the Korovou Prison, after they were arrested yesterday in Nasinu.
Director Immigration, Nemani Vuniwaqa said they have managed to arrest two locals who are alleged to be linked to the human trafficking scam uncovered yesterday. Vuniwaqa said these 13 illegal immigrants will soon be deported.
He said the permits these nationals are carrying are fake and the CID fraud unit of the Police Department is now handling the case.
Vuniwaqa said they have some leads from the immigrants arrested that there are more illegal immigrants out there, brought into the country through the human trafficking scam and he believes the human trafficking rackett has been in operation for a number of years.
These Indian nationals, include men and women who are believed to have been brought into Fiji by a local company about eight months ago and were staying illegally in the country. Vuniwaqa said the Indian nationals were arrested after raids were conducted in the Nasinu area and they are still trying to ascertain how the passports of these Indian nationals are showing that they have been in and out of Fiji, when infact they have been staying in Fiji all this time.
Meanwhile, two Fiji citizens are to be deported from Canada after they were arrested in Canada's first human trafficking scam yesterday.
The Calgary Chronicle reports that the two women along with a Chinese national were found in a home in Edmonton, Western Canada after they were rescued from a home where they were being kept.
The report said the three were lured to Canada and then ended up working in a massage parlour. The newspaper said the women ate, drank and slept in the room they worked in and allegedly were expected to perform sexual acts 24 hours a day, seven days a week for several weeks.
Three people have been arrested in Edmonton in relation to the human trafficking scandal.
Feature
Immigration dept searches for illegal immigrants
