A smuggling story involving Southeast Asia, Canada, Haiti, the Bahamas, Miami and prison
A Canadian national and native of Sri Lanka tried to get six Sri Lankans to Canada the long way, via Miami. Instead, their journey ended in Turks and Caicos and his will end in U.S. federal prison.
Sri Kajamukam Chelliah, also called “Mohan” and “Richie,” was sentenced to two years, eight months Monday after pleading guilty in Miami federal court to conspiracy to bring aliens into the United States.
According to Chelliah’s admission of facts with his guilty plea, over the course of almost two years, October 2017 through September 2019, Chelliah smuggled six Sri Lankans the 9,800 miles to Haiti. He had them picked up at the Port-au-Prince airport and taken to a hotel. The plan put them on a boat from Haiti to Turks and Caicos, then from there to the Bahamas and from the Bahamas to Miami.
Chelliah and his six customers boarded a Haitian sloop on Oct. 10, 2019, with 147 other people. Turks and Caicos authorities halted the boat.
Chelliah got nine months in Turks and Caicos prison for unlawful entry and assisting unlawful entry. The new sentence will run concurrent with that one.
When it runs out, Chelliah will be the one who gets into the United States — to serve the rest of his sentence.
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