Colombo: Sri Lankan police on July 18 arrested 112 Indians and six Pakistan nationals who had arrived in the island to travel illegally to Italy, officials said.

The Indians and Pakistanis were arrested at Tissamaharam, 270 km South of the capital Colombo. It is the largest number of Indians arrested in the country.

Police said they believed the men had arrived in the island recently with a view to take an illegal ferry to Italy. The men were being questioned, officials said.

The arrest came two days after a local magistrate remanded for a further two weeks some 254 Pakistan men in connection with a major people smuggling racket detected earlier in July.

Sri Lankan fishermen were known to operate modified fishing trawlers to make a hazardous three-week journey to the Red Sea, from where the would-be illegal immigrants were transferred to rogue ships.

The larger vessels, mostly from former Soviet Republics, would carry the illegal immigrants to European shores.

What were once operations solely to smuggle locals to Europe, Japan or Australia have now attracted nationals from neighbouring countries following the easing of entry visas to Sri Lanka, police said.

PTI