MV Ocean Lady human smuggling case hears final arguments

Lawyers for four men accused of human smuggling are expected to deliver closing arguments today at the trial in Vancouver.

The four were charged after a decrepit cargo vessel, the MV Ocean Lady, carried 76 Sri Lankan asylum seekers from Thailand tothe West Coast of Vancouver Island in the fall of 2009.

On Tuesday Crown prosecutor Maggie Loda told a B.C Supreme Court trialthat the four men who orchestrated thedangerous trans-Pacific trekfor the dozens of Tamil asylum seekers were simply out for profit.

In her closing arguments Loda said the accused men held a more privilegedposition on board the MV Ocean Lady.

The high court had earlier ordered a new trial for the men, afterruling the federal government's laws on human smuggling shouldn'tapply to those who help migrants on humanitarian grounds.

Loda told the court that while there is no evidence the accused men made money out of the scheme, they should be convicted for smugglingthe vulnerable migrants who paid thousands for the trip.