A key Australian government tool to combat people smuggling in Sri Lanka can be easily dodged by perpetrators and is forcing fishermen struggling in the country's economic crisis to pay a monthly fee.
Official sources have also told the ABC they are investigating the brother of a Sri Lankan government MP over allegations of people smuggling to Australia.
The revelations paint a picture of the ineffective measures put forward by the Australian government to fix the issue, according to experts.
More than 1,000 Sri Lankan people have tried to get to Australia by boat this year, many paying thousands of dollars to people smugglers to make the weeks-long journey in rough seas on fishing trawlers.
June 2022 saw the highest number of illegal boat interceptions by Australian Border Force since 2013. All were from Sri Lanka.
The stark increase is in large part due to Sri Lanka's economic crisis, which has cut off basic services to millions of people.
Following the ABC's reporting on the new wave of Sri Lankan asylum seekers in June, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil visited Colombo, donating resources to authorities in the country to "counter people smuggling".
The Australian government gave 4,200 GPS trackers to the Sri Lankan government to surveil fishing trawlers, the boats used by people smugglers.
But fishermen have told the ABC the trackers, called vessel monitoring systems (VMS), can be removed.
"This isn't working. Most of the people when they are going to immigrate illegally, they will remove the fuse from the VMS system and they're going," said Nawaz Essa, fisherman and former head of the boat owners' association.
"Most of the people are immigrating illegally to Australia. They want to get that good life in Australia.
"The economic crisis is going up in Sri Lanka, each and every day the prices [are] going up … so most of the people they want to save their family and their children."
An Australian Border Force spokesman said the government's policy was "steadfast".
"People who illegally travel to Australia by boat will not settle here permanently," he said in a statement.
Operation Sovereign Borders is about defeating people smugglers who manipulate vulnerable men, women and children to risk their lives at sea.
People smugglers are criminals and will use any means to earn a profit at the expense of others.
"Every Sri Lankan people smuggling boat that has entered Australian waters since October 2013 has been stopped, and all those on board returned safely to Sri Lanka," he said.
"This was achieved through close, pragmatic cooperation between Australia and Sri Lanka."
The Australian government has also donated $75 million to NGOs dealing with Sri Lanka's economic crisis and launched a Fishing Monitoring Centre.
When announcing the measures in June, Ms O'Neil said the centre and VMS would be used for "combating transnational crime and people smuggling operations".
Fishermen have also said they are being asked to pay a monthly cost in satellite fees for the Australian government trackers and some boat owners without the right software must pay an additional installation cost.
Receipts obtained by the ABC show the fishermen are paying the satellite fees to Sri Lanka's Fisheries Department.
They were angry about the extra payments, saying they're already struggling to make a living because Sri Lanka is facing a fuel shortage, which is affecting business.
"They did not say anything regarding the payment after the instalment, now they've asked for the money," Mr Essa said.
"We don't have any agreement to pay a monthly charge.
"We don't want a VMS System, we are not illegal immigrants, we are just running our fishing business … remove [them] from our boats."
Fisheries Operations Manager in the Batticaloa District, Vimalnathan Dharmenthira, is in charge of the rollout of the Australian government's VMS trackers.
"Frankly, it's been a controversy … by saying you'll be monitored, [fishermen] get confused and [ask] why they need to be monitored," he said.
"It can definitely stop illegal migration, when the vessels reach the border we can easily get the beep sound."
Mr Dharmenthira said Sri Lankan Fisheries had not yet caught a people smuggler through the Australian government's tracking service, adding "the VMS system is new here".
Asher Hirsch, from the Australian Refugee Council, said combatting people smuggling this way did not go to the "heart of the problem".
"Measures like interceptions or surveillance don't actually get to the heart of the problem, the root of the problem," he said.
"What we would like to see is really addressing why people flee in the first place, and why people resort to measures such as taking a boat.
"And that's quite simply put, because people have no other option."
Sri Lankan MP's brother allegedly tangled up in people smuggling operation
The ABC can also reveal the brother of a Sri Lankan government MP who owns two fishing trawlers on the east coast district of Batticaloa, is being investigated for allegedly smuggling people to Australia.
Sivanesathurai Ahilakumar, known as Ahilan, owns two trawlers, which are deployed for multi-day fishing trips in the area.
Official sources say there is information suggesting these boats are connected with illegal human smuggling.
Several passengers on a boat of people arrested trying to go to Australia from Batticaloa in June said they went through Mr Ahilakumar in their efforts to go overseas, the sources said.
He is the brother of Sri Lankan government Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, known as Piliyan. The ABC is not suggesting Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan is involved.
Mr Chandrakanthan did not respond to the ABC's request for comment.
"There is a rumour, people smugglers are taking my name to collect money because people will believe that I am doing this," Sivanesathurai Ahilakumar told the ABC.
"The police have taken me in for an inquiry but I told them it's not true. I have boats but I'm not involved in this.
"Our family is involved in politics that's why people smugglers are using my name."
Mr Hirsh said the case underlined how desperate people were in Sri Lanka.
"They have no other means to find protection and that desperation [and] vulnerability leads to exploitation and a risk of corruption," Mr Hirsch said.
"If Australia is really concerned with the exploitation of people seeking asylum, and really, other people preying on that vulnerability, then what we should be doing is investing in other options to find protection for people in the region."
Mr Hirsch said Australia could increase its refugee intake from Sri Lanka.
"When people fled the conflict in Ukraine, Australia and Europe opened [their] borders to refugees. [Australia] allowed people to come [here] by [using] a visa," he said.
"Why isn't the Australian government following a similar precedent and allowing people fleeing Sri Lanka to also get a visa to the country?"
Australia sent asylum seekers back on Border Force ship
The Australian government has also taken the unusual step of sending a boatload of Sri Lankan asylum seekers to Colombo on a Border Force ship, instead of by plane.
But those asylum seekers said they were told by Border Force officers they would be taken to Australia.
"A big Australian ship approached us on the 21st day of our journey, they moved us on there and gave us food," said Chinna Durai Thineswaran, who was on the boat.
"We were very happy when we saw the big ship, we felt that they were coming to rescue us and when we asked them where we were going, they told us we were being taken to Australia."
Australian Border Force did not respond to the ABC's questions about the use of the ship to return the asylum seekers back to Sri Lanka.
After a 10-day journey on the Border Force ship, Thineswaran disembarked to find they had not been taken to Australia, but instead had arrived back in Sri Lanka.
"When they opened the door then we came to know that we reached Sri Lanka, we were in tears," he says.
"I had given everything I had, what will I do now?"
As the ship docked at Colombo port, senior Border Force personnel held a press conference to send a message to Sri Lankans trying to go to Australia by boat.
"It's been eight and a half years since we had a tragic loss of life at sea as a result of a failed people smuggling venture," ABF Commander Chris Waters said.
"With the election of the new Australian government there's been no change in the policy in relation to unauthorised people smuggling arrivals."
As the Australian government continues to roll out resources to stop Sri Lankans from trying to migrate by boat, people who have made the journey have told the ABC they thought they would be allowed to settle.
"I would have not gone if I knew it is illegal," Thineswaran says.
Now they're facing criminal charges at home, while continuing to struggle through the economic crisis.
"We are trying to enter Australia forcefully therefore they have taken strict measures," Tilaksan, another asylum seeker, said.
"We are not going for fun. We are compelled to leave because Sri Lanka is in deep crisis.
"The Australian government must understand our condition and help us."
