Friday December 5, 2008
The alleged head of a major people-smuggling syndicate has been arrested, Indonesian police say.
Iranian Haj Sakih, said by police to be responsible for most of the recent attempted crossings to Australia, was arrested in Surabaya on Wednesday after an investigation lasting several months, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The director for national security at Indonesian police headquarters, Brigadier General Badrodin Haiti, told the Herald the arrest of Sakih and others, and some Indonesians, had smashed a large syndicate.
'He is a big fish,' Brigadier General Haiti said of Sakih.
'His connection is with Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.'
A vessel carrying 35 suspected asylum seekers was spotted off Ashmore Island, north-west of Western Australia, late on Tuesday.
The boat is the fifth to make it to Australian waters in recent months.
But 15 have been stopped in Indonesia in an operation led by Indonesian police, with the assistance of Australian Federal Police, the Herald reported.
The alleged head of a major people-smuggling syndicate has been arrested, Indonesian police say.
Iranian Haj Sakih, said by police to be responsible for most of the recent attempted crossings to Australia, was arrested in Surabaya on Wednesday after an investigation lasting several months, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The director for national security at Indonesian police headquarters, Brigadier General Badrodin Haiti, told the Herald the arrest of Sakih and others, and some Indonesians, had smashed a large syndicate.
'He is a big fish,' Brigadier General Haiti said of Sakih.
'His connection is with Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.'
A vessel carrying 35 suspected asylum seekers was spotted off Ashmore Island, north-west of Western Australia, late on Tuesday.
The boat is the fifth to make it to Australian waters in recent months.
But 15 have been stopped in Indonesia in an operation led by Indonesian police, with the assistance of Australian Federal Police, the Herald reported.
Source: SkyNews
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