We suspect they want to remain in the UK, possibly to get employment, says official
\n Birmingham
\nTen members of crisis-hit Sri Lanka\u2019s Commonwealth Games contingent in Birmingham have disappeared in a suspected attempt to remain in Britain, a top sports official from the island nation told AFP on Sunday.
\nThe nine athletes and a manager vanished after completing their events, the official said, requesting anonymity.
\nThree of them — judoka Chamila Dilani, her manager Asela de Silva, and wrestler Shanith Chathuranga — had disappeared last week.
\nThat prompted a police complaint by the Sri Lankan officials.
\n\u201cSince then, another seven have vanished,\u201d the official said, without identifying them.
\n\u201cWe suspect they want to remain in the UK, possibly to get employment.\u201d
\nThe 160-strong Sri Lankan contingent\u2019s management possessed the passports of all members to ensure they returned home.
\nThat failed to deter some from leaving.
\nBritish police located the first three that disappeared, but as they had not violated local laws and held visas valid for six months, no action was taken, the Sri Lankan official told AFP.
\n\u201cIn fact, the police got us to return the passports that we were holding as a deterrent against defections,\u201d the official said.
\n\u201cThe police have not told us about their whereabouts.\u201d
\nSri Lankan athletes have been reported missing from international events in the past.
\nIn October last year, Sri Lanka\u2019s wrestling manager abandoned his team and disappeared in Oslo during a world championship tournament.
\nDuring the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea, two Sri Lankan athletes made a run for it and were not found.
\nAnd in 2004, when Sri Lanka did not even have a national handball team, a 23-member group pretending to represent the country conned their way to a tournament in Germany and disappeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We suspect they want to remain in the UK, possibly to get employment, says official Birmingham Ten members of crisis-hit Sri Lanka\u2019s Commonwealth Games contingent in Birmingham have disappeared in a suspected attempt to remain in Britain, a top sports official from the island nation told AFP on Sunday. The nine athletes and a manager […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-276298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n