The RCMP has announced the arrests of four men in relation to the seized Ocean Lady, a freighter that brought 76 Sri Lankan refugees to British Columbia's coast in 2009.
They are the first arrests in the RCMP investigation into an alleged human-smuggling ring that began after the ship was seized in Oct. 2009.
All 76 men aboard the Ocean Lady were taken into custody at the time. They all filed for refugee status.
All were eventually released after an investigation into their links to the Tamil Tigers, which Canada has listed as a terror organization.
The migrants paid thousands of dollars to board the ship, either from Indonesia or Thailand.
A second ship, the Sun Sea, brought another 500 Tamil refugees to Canada's coast in the summer of 2010.
RCMP Supt. Tom Jones identified the suspects as Vignarajah Thevarajah, 33, Francis Anthonimuthu Appulonappa, 33, Hamalraj Handasamy, 39 and Jeyachandran Kanagarajah, 32.
