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Investigators suspect the Tamils were victims of an international plot to make a profit by transporting refugees seeking asylum in North America. Hamburg police last week arrested two Tamils and a Turk on charges that included violating passport laws and "trafficking in humans." Police identified the vessel that brought the Tamils to Canada as the Aurigae, a 425- ton West German ship that flies the Honduran flag. The telltale clue: the Aurigae's owners had recently bought three lifeboats belonging to the cruise ship Regina Maris. Though attempts had been made to sand off the name, the words Regina Maris were faintly visible on the lifeboats in which the castaways were found. Police said the West German captain, Wolfgang Bindel, received about $350,000 for transporting the Tamils. Bindel last week denied any involvement.
Many of the refugees apparently reached West Germany after flying from Sri Lanka to East Berlin and then crossing legally into West Berlin. They then fled West Germany because they were worried that authorities would reject their applications for asylum. Since 1949 Bonn has accepted any foreigner "persecuted on political grounds" in his native land. This lenient policy has led more than 37,000 Sri Lankans to pour into the country since 1980. The flood has provoked racial conflicts and calls for stricter immigration laws; new arrivals meet rising hostility. At the same time, rumors spreading through Tamil communities in West Germany depict Canada as an asylum seeker's haven where refugees can find comfortable lives.
Those tales may have some foundation. An estimated 8,000 Tamils have already settled in communities in Montreal and Toronto. While Canadian officials are clearly unhappy about the way the "boat people" entered their country, they indicated last week that the new arrivals will not be turned away. The Tamils have been issued work permits and granted permission to remain for at least a year. Immigration officers say they will not deport the castaways to Sri Lanka so long as civil strife continues. Says Canadian Immigration Consultant Dennison Moore: "It appears that under any circumstance, they're here to stay."