Object of Canadian Search Found Empty in Miami : Hunted ‘Refugee Ship’ Is Located

Authorities canceled an air-and-sea search Wednesday for a ship thought to be trying to smuggle up to 180 women and children into Canada after the suspect vessel was located in Miami, empty of passengers.

According to Army Col. Ira Creelman, the Gibraltar-registered Winged Eagle was found Tuesday night in Miami only hours after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had issued a “marine alert” for it.

The search followed the illegal landing Sunday of 173 Indian men and one woman, many of them adherents of the Sikh religion, at the small fishing village of Charlesville about 150 miles southwest of here.

‘Wrong Call’

Authorities said there was a chance that between 160 and 180 women and children related to the 174 immigrants were on a second ship.

Creelman, who said he was the official who thought there was a second vessel, acknowledged Wednesday that, the Winged Eagle having been found, “I made a wrong call.” There is now “no evidence” that additional refugees were off the Canadian shore, he said.

At the same time, a controversy was building over the official handling of the 174 refugees, who are being detained in a military base here.

Under Canadian law, the government may hold refugees for 48 hours without a hearing or legal counsel while determining their status. However, immigration and police officials have refused to allow attorneys, reporters or representatives of any non-governmental organizations to talk with the refugees.

The official reason is that none of the refugees arrived with any documents and that it has taken three days to establish their identities. It may take several more days to make a judgment about their status, officials say.

However, Mendel Green, a Toronto immigration lawyer retained by several Sikh organizations in Canada, told a news conference that not only is this a “technical violation of the law” but that it runs counter to “the Canadian tradition of judicial fairness.”

The lawyer said the government had denied him access to the Indians and similarly barred a Sikh priest who sought to hold a prayer service.

Furthermore, he said, the detained Sikhs had been deprived of their ceremonial daggers, which are considered sacred and must be carried by all Sikh men. Officials acknowledged that, but said the daggers had been returned Wednesday after 21 of the Sikhs had staged a brief hunger strike.

“This has not been handled appropriately,” Green said, claiming that the refugees have not been advised that they have a right to a lawyer. He said they are not even being allowed to use a telephone.

“I think what has happened here is that the broad brush of terrorism has been painted across the situation,” Green said. He was referring to incidents in which alleged Sikh radicals living in Canada are suspected of terrorist acts in support of demands by Sikhs in India for establishment of a separate state there.

Airline Bombings

The acts included the bombings on June 23, 1985, of Air India and Canadian Pacific jetliners. Both flights had originated in Canada; the Air India jet exploded off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 329 lives, mostly Canadians of Indian extraction; baggage on the Canadian Pacific flight exploded after the plane landed in Tokyo, and two baggage handlers were killed.

“I think it is appropriate for the RCMP and CSIS (Canadian Security and Intelligence Service) to check these people,” Green said, but “in my opinion it’s a little too much . . . an overreaction.”

The “situation is so bizarre,” the lawyer said, “that my travel agent was interrogated by the RCMP about who bought the airline tickets for me and my clients.”

“I wonder if the local Catholic Church had asked to help Irish Catholics (it) would have to prove its bona fides,” he added.

More details about the Sunday landing came to light Wednesday.

The navigator of the Amelie, the ship that carried the refugees, pleaded guilty to violating immigration laws. He had been arrested when the vessel was seized and towed into Halifax on Monday. Castor LaSalle, 34, of Spain, was sentenced to a month in prison and fined $1,800.

Waded Ashore

Prosecutor Douglas Richard told the court that LaSalle was hired for about $1,500 to pilot the ship from the Netherlands to Nova Scotia. He quoted LaSalle as saying that he took the Amelie out of Rotterdam on June 23 with 174 Indians on board and took them to a beach near Charlesville, where he was able to maneuver the ship to within about 500 yards of shore.

From there, Richard said, the refugees were lowered over the side in an improvised chute and they waded ashore.

Earlier accounts given by Charlesville residents had the refugees being brought from the ship on lifeboats.

One of the reasons officials thought there might have been additional refugees was the absence of lifeboats on the Amelie, leading to a suspicion that dependents of the 174 were still on the ocean in such boats.

After landing the Indians, LeSalle headed for the Canary Islands, where he was to be paid. However, the Amelie was overtaken by Canadian vessels and seized.