The passengers claimed refugee status, but were detained on suspicion that some of them had links to a Tamil insurgency. Police believe Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, 37, was a victim of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur. Kanagaratnam​ told him that both his application for refugee status and his subsequent appeal had been rejected. Piranavan Thangavel said that Kanagarat went into hiding after both his application and appeal for refugee status was rejected. "We have big questions about how he met that guy," Thangavel said.

Source: CBC News November 25, 2018 23:26 UTC