Two men accused of organizing the MV Sun Sea's journey to Canada appear in B.C. Provincial Court in Vancouver on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. It was their first appearance on that charge. Lesly Jana Emmanuel is on the left, with Kunarobinson Christhurajah seated beside him. Jane Wolsak

Men charged with helping to organize MV Sun Sea voyage appear in court
SUNNY DHILLON
VANCOUVER— From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, May. 16, 2012 9:00PM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, May. 16, 2012 9:09PM EDT

Dressed in red prison-issued clothing, listening intently as a Tamil interpreter translated the proceedings, two men charged with helping organize the MV Sun Sea’s voyage into Canada made a brief appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court.

Kunarobinson Christhurajah and Lesly Jana Emmanuel were each charged this week with one count of organizing entry into Canada contrary to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Both men face penalties of life in prison and/or a $1-million fine.

Mr. Christhurajah and Mr. Emmanuel did not address the court during their first appearance Wednesday. The men stood behind a glass barrier in the prisoner’s box and followed the hearing through the interpreter. They remain in custody and will be back in court June 5 for a bail hearing.

Police and military personnel wear surgical masks as they board the MV Sun Sea after it was escorted into CFB Esquimalt in Colwood, B.C.,Friday, Aug. 13, 2010. Two people have been charged with helping to smuggle a ship full of Tamil migrants into Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Two charged with helping to smuggle migrants to Canada aboard ship
By: The Canadian Press
Posted: 4:31 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies) | Last Modified: 4:37 PM

Police and military personnel wear surgical masks as they board the MV Sun Sea after it was escorted into CFB Esquimalt in Colwood, B.C.,Friday, Aug. 13, 2010. Two people have been charged with helping to smuggle a ship full of Tamil migrants into Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

VANCOUVER – Two people have been charged with helping to smuggle a ship full of Tamil migrants into Canada.

Lesly Jana Emmanuel and Kunarobinson Christhurajah are accused of organizing and aiding in the operation that brought 492 Tamils by boat to British Columbia’s coast.

The rusty MV Sun Sea landed off Victoria in August 2010 with the refugee claimants on board.

The court indictment against the pair says they planned their crimes between August 2009 and August 2010 in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.

The Canadian government has launched an extradition request for a third man charged with similar offences and arrested in France.

Six men from the ship remain in detention almost two years after they landed, while 19 passengers have been issued deportation orders and six people have been accepted as refugees.

Wealthy Tamil Andrew Mahendrarajah Antonipillai murdered upon his return to Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan military behind slaying of Montrealer: Reports
By Giuseppe Valiante, QMI Agency

Canadian reportedly murdered and mutilated in Sri Lanka

MONTREAL – The Sri Lankan military is thought to be involved in the murder of a Canadian citizen of Tamil origin, according to journalists in Sri Lanka.

The founding editor of a nationalist Tamil news organization told QMI Agency Sunday that his journalists on the ground in northern Sri Lanka reported that the Montreal man was murdered after trying to reclaim property seized by the military.

Andrew Mahendrarajah Antonipillai, 53, was found dead in northern Sri Lanka in early May, his family told QMI Agency on Saturday.

Jeya Kopinath, 42, founding editor of TamilNet, a Tamil nationalist news site, said his journalists reported that Antonipillai’s throat was slit and his penis cut off, just outside the northern Sri Lankan town of Kilinochchi.

Kopinath said that Antonipillai owned eight stores in Kilinochchi, which is the former headquarters of the separatist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and an area that Kopinath said is heavily militarized. The government declared victory over the LTTE – also known as the Tamil Tigers – in 2009 after 26 years of war.

Kopinath spoke to QMI from Norway, where he edits his news site that is read internationally. TamilNet focuses on stories pertaining to Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority and has been criticized for being too pro-Tamil Tiger and highly critical of the government and military.

At least two of Antonipillai’s shops were seized by the military, which were leasing them out to a local food company, Kopinath said. The TamilNet editor told QMI Agency that the military offered Antonipillai money in return for the stores, but they were rebuked.

Antonipillai was also arguing with local military officials over electricity for a house that he was building in a town outside Kilinochchi, Kopinath said.

Credit card ring A Quebec Provincial Police officer shows some of the confiscated credit cards and technology at a news conference Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press

Quebec debit card ring defrauds 22,000
Montreal-based ring linked to Vancouver, U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Tunisia
CBC News Posted: May 9, 2012 7:13 AM ET Last Updated: May 9, 2012 10:04 PM ET

Investigators allege the suspects altered pin pads in commercial businesses and captured customer’s data. (Radio-Canada)

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Police in Quebec have arrested 45 people and seized more than 12,000 counterfeit bank cards in raids on an international fraud ring that cloned cards and pilfered cash from victims’ accounts.

“We believe that we’ve put an end to a significant operation that was in operation here in the province,” said Supt. Guy Pilon of the RCMP.
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“Internationally, it is a reality that is obviously evident in all countries today. The advent of the technology creates opportunity for the public, but also for criminal organizations that want to defraud individuals.”

The network was based in Montreal, but worked with accomplices in Vancouver, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Tunisia and the United Kingdom.

Facebook /Ramanan Mylvaganam pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He faces up to 15-year imprisonment.

U.S. wants 15 years for Toronto man convicted in Tamil Tigers terror plot
Stewart Bell Apr 30, 2012 – 7:43 AM ET | Last Updated: Apr 30, 2012 7:44 AM ET

Ramanan Mylvaganam pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He faces up to 15-year imprisonment.
The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a 15-year prison sentence for a Canadian who pleaded guilty to terrorism conspiracy for his role in a plot to supply separatist rebels in Sri Lanka.

In a sentencing report filed in a Brooklyn, N.Y. court, U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch said Ramanan Mylvaganam had committed “a gravely serious offence” by attempting to procure equipment for the Tamil rebels.

“Any sentence other than a substantial sentence of incarceration risks undermining respect for the law by suggesting that a defendant can evade serious punishment for providing material support to a terrorist organization,” she wrote.

CBC News

Alison Redford rubbing elbows with her constituency

Redford is scheduled to campaign in Calgary all day Sunday.

She will be starting her day off with a photo op for Sri Lankan Sinhalese New Year at the Marlborough Park Community Association Auditorium at 9 a.m.

She will then visit a Sikh Temple with Calgary-Greenway candidate Manmeet Bhullar at 11 a.m. before heading to the Bangladesh Community Association for a photo op at 1 p.m.

Redford then travels to the Vietnamese Buddhist Temple in Calgary’s southeast for a 1:45 p.m. photo op.