The owner and manager of a licenced foreign employment agency located at Stanley Thilakaratne Mawatha, Nugegoda that sent Sri Lankans to serve in the Russian Army have been arrested.
The two suspects have been arrested by officers of the Foreign Employment Bureau’s Special Investigation Division on Wednesday (15) during a special raid carried out, the Foreign Employment Bureau said in a statement released.
After recording the statements of the two suspects, they have been then produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday (16) and they have been remanded till May 30. Steps have been also taken to temporarily suspend the licence of the foreign employment agency in question.
The agency has sent Sri Lankans forcibly to the Russian-Ukrainian war front by initially falsely claiming that they will send them for the civil service of the Russian Army through tourist visas and have charged Rs.1.5 million per person to send them to Russia.
The Foreign Employment Bureau has received seven complaints regarding the racket carried out by this agency, and according to those complaints, the amount of money defrauded by this agency is over Rs.10 million.
Foreign Employment Bureau Special Investigations Division Manager Kapila Karunaratne together with team members Indunil Pushpakumara, Mahisha Kodippiliarachchi, Madushan Wijewardene, Amila Perera and Gayesha Subashini conducted the investigation.
Making a statement over the incident, Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara has requested the public not to get caught in these scams as the government does not approve of sending Sri Lankans to serve in any foreign Army, and that they should never go for foreign jobs through tourist visas. The Foreign Employment Bureau officials have been given instructions by the Minister to punish those who run this type of smuggling operations regardless of their positions in society.
(dailynews.lk)
