Sri Lanka arrests N Z bound boat people

COLOMBO, Feb 12 (AFP): Sri Lankan police said Wednesday they had arrested 75 would-be asylum-seekers trying to leave for New Zealand illegally, including nine women, six children, and a suspected former Tamil Tiger guerrilla.

The group was arrested in the southern coastal town of Moragolla.

It was the first large-scale arrest of nationals in months after Australia, long a favourite destination for Sri Lanka's refugees, tightened its borders.

"These people were trying to leave illegally for New Zealand," a police statement said.

It said initial investigations showed they included a former fighter from the Sea Tigers naval unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who were defeated after decades of separatist war in May 2009.

The arrests came five days after Australia announced that no illegal boats had reached its shores for 50 days due to tighter border patrols.