Immigration Acting Manager Compliance and Investigations, Edward Brown took the stand this afternoon as a state witness in the trial of four people charged with people smuggling.

Brown told the court that the illegal immigrants were discovered after initial investigations by the Immigration department upon suspicion.

He told Magistrate Eparama Rakoika that they were investigating alleged breaches of the Immigration law when they discovered the alleged racket.

Defence Lawyer, Mehaboob Raza raised concerns in the court that the four should not be charged with human smuggling as there is no evidence to prove that the Indian nationals were forced to come to Fiji.

He argued that the charges against the four should be scrapped.

The trial continues tomorrow morning.