A Canadian federal official stated that the Thai-flagged ship, MV Sun Sea, believed to be carrying Tamil migrants sailing towards Canada, could be “engaged in human smuggling and human trafficking, which is obviously a very dangerous thing.”

The Canadian government fears other migrant ships may be on the way, the federal official said.

“We are becoming a target of human smugglers and human traffickers,” he further said.

“We are looking to send a message to these people who are usually (part of) criminal organizations, in some cases with possible terrorist connections in the case of the Tamil Tigers…that we are not going to allow our laws to be broken.”

The suspected Tamil migrant boat now believed to hold as many as 500 refugees has entered Canada’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone and is heading for the B.C. coast, reported the Vancouver Sun.

“We expect it will land either late (Thursday) evening or early Friday morning,” a senior federal official said.

The vessel was met by a Canadian navy ship from Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt when it reached Canada’s “exclusive economic zone” at an unknown time Wednesday.

It is expected the vessel will be escorted to either Ogden Point, normally used by cruise ships near Victoria’s downtown and where a similar ship was towed last year, or to CFB Esquimalt.