HALIFAX: Thirteen Sikh stow a ways caught trying to enter Canada via Halifax harbor said Wednesday they were fleeing political persecution in India.
Speaking through an interpreter at a news conference called by the Maritime Sikh Society the men described an odyssey that began Christmas Day and ended with their discovery Monday in a camper van aboard a docked freighter.
They feel that they could be framed for something they didn’t do and they were afraid for their lives sad society president Jagjit Goomar. Now that they’re in Canada they feel very happy and safe.
Goomar said an unidentified intermediary connected with the Sikh Students Federation a group supporting an independent Sikh homeland in India arranged for their passage to Germany and then Canada.
Goomar said the men did not know each other when they began their month-long journey. All are seeking refugee status in preliminary immigration hearings that began in Halifax on Wednesday.
In an explanation with few specifics the men said they were put on two ships before they finally reached Halifax on Monday via Germany.
They started in India from a place called Kandla and they did not know where the boat was g0ing so they did not know they were going wo Germany Goomar said Kandla is on India’s west coast in the state of Gujarat.
The Sikhs said that in Germany they were put in a camper van and then driven on board a second vessel for the 10-day voyage to Halifax.
They were found by Canadian customs agents on Monday during a routine inspection.
Two German men Christian Muhme and Peter Woliny are to appear in Halifax provincial court Monday for bail hearing on_ charges of bringing the Sikhs into Canada.
If you didn’t know they were there you wouldn’t have found them said customs spokesman Ed Osborne. They just looked like a bundle of sleeping material. They were kind of packed in really well a custom officer said.
Osborne said the two accused were passengers on the Polish vessel Kazimierz Pulaski Its last port of call was Bremerhaven Germany nine days ago.
The men were not detained are required to report for immigration hearing dates.
In the course of examining an exterior compartment he (the officer) detected what he thought was a sleeping bag said Osborne Upon further examination he found there was a body inside.
More men were found in compartments inside the camper including four in a bunk over the driver’s seat and others under the table nook.
They were cold and the appeared very thirsty said Osbome. Some appeared very woozy and very very weak.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 14, 1992
