A Tamil man, who himself claimed asylum was sentenced in Canada for four years for smuggling Tamil refugees fleeing from Sri Lanka on the MV Sun Sea in August 2010.
Delivering the sentence, British Columbia's Supreme Court said Kunarobinson Christhurajah would not be serving any more time as he had already been detained for the past 7 years awaiting trial.
Highlighting a previous case in 2001 where three Chinese members of an organised crime group were sentenced for people smuggling, the judge, Justice Wedge said "the evidence does not establish he was a mastermind or leader on the voyage," and said him and his family shared the same experience and conditions of other passengers who were all fleeing Sri Lanka.
"That's an important distinction in my view," she added. "These Chinese nationals were not asylum seekers."
He was not out to make a profit she added.