| In 2009 this vessel was arrested carrying 76 Tamil refugees to Canada. The vessel was sold into private hands after it was determined that this vessel was abandoned. A newspaper report states that "The boat, though dilapidated-looking, is said to have a full kitchen and gym." In 2015 this vessel was anchored in Waddington Channel (West Redonda Island) at a fish farm. It was once assigned the IMO number 7732349 (and several others which may all be fakes). A case was heard in the Supreme Court of Canada - On October 17, 2009, a vessel called the Ocean Lady was apprehended off the west coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia. Seventy-six people, among them the appellants, were aboard. All were Tamils from Sri Lanka. They claimed to have fled Sri Lanka because their lives were endangered in the aftermath of the civil war in that country. They asked for refugee status in Canada. None had the required legal documentation. The Crown claims that the four appellants — the captain and chief crew of the vessel — were the organizers of the venture. The Crown alleges that the majority of passengers each paid, or promised to pay, $30,000 to $40,000 for the voyage. The four appellants, Francis Anthonimuthu Appulonappa, Hamalraj Handasamy, Jeyachandran Kanagarajah and Vignarajah Thevarajah, are alleged to have been the point persons for a transnational for-profit operation to smuggle undocumented migrants from Southeast Asia to Canada. They are said to have been responsible for organizing the asylum-seekers in Indonesia and Thailand prior to boarding the freighter, and serving as the chief crew of the ship on the voyage to Canada — Mr. Handasamy as captain, Mr. Thevarajah as chief engineer, and Mr. Kanagarajah and Mr. Appulonappa as key crew members.
Kyle Stubbs (British Columbia Nautical History Facebook Group 02/02/2018) states that "Technically this vesselhas only one assigned, the legitimate number 8840224. The second, 7732349 is a fake as the final check digit included in every IMO number does not fit the formula. (The legitimate equivalent, 7732341, belongs to a Belgian tour boat named FLANDRIA 1.) Lastly, the third, 9109653, is real, but actually is assigned to a vessel built by the same yard, and last reported as the MIWA MARU." |
