B.C. court acquits four men accused of human smuggling in Tamil migrant case
VANCOUVER — Four Sri Lankan men accused of bringing dozens of Tamil migrants to Canada aboard a dilapidated cargo vessel eight years ago have been found not guilty of human smuggling.
Prosecutors argued that Francis Anthonimuthu Appulonappa, Hamalraj Handasamy, Jeyachandran Kanagarajah and Vignarajah Thevarajah helped organize the trafficking operation to profit from people looking for asylum in Canada.
But Justice Arne Silverman of the Supreme Court of British Columbia said the Crown failed to prove its case.
“I am also not satisfied that their actions were to obtain either directly or indirectly a financial or material benefit, or that any of the them obtained one,” he said while delivering his verdict in Vancouver.