The police states that 294 illegal immigrant and racketeers were arrested during the past couple of days.

Police media spokesperson SP Ajith Rohana speaking to our news team had this to say……..

Speaking further he also had this to say…

An Australian news paper reports that 2 more boats have been detected overnight, carrying 108 asylum seekers, taking the number of boats intercepted in just over 24 hours to four.

One the boats are said to have sailed to Cocos Islands carrying 67 Sri Lankans.

The second boat was intercepted by HMAS Bundaberg north east of Ashmore Islands and had 41 people on board whose nationalities are not yet known.

Passengers on the boat had called the Australian Maritime Safety Authority for assistance but the vessel was not in distress when Border Protection Command officers arrived at the scene near Ashmore Islands.

Passengers from both boats will be transferred to Christmas Island where there has been a recent influx of asylum seekers.

Yesterday 145 passengers from two other boats were transferred to the island. One boat was carrying 44 Sri Lankans and was detected off the coast of Christmas Island on Thursday night.

The other boat had 101 Afghan asylum seekers on board and was intercepted off the island on Friday morning.

On Thursday, 130 relieved survivors from the boat that sunk in the high seas on Wednesday arrived at the island after being transported by HMAS Leeuwin from the scene of the sinking. Their arrival was followed by the offloading of 93 Sri Lankan asylum seekers.