Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent | April 17
ALMOST 70 Afghan presumed asylum seekers have been arrested by Indonesian police as they waited to make the ocean crossing to Australia.
The group was apprehended in a villa in West Java, one of several common jumping-off points used in a growing wave of people-smuggling out of Indonesia.
The group, believed to have entered Indonesia illegally, was staying in a tourist area on the Sunda Strait, facing the westernmost Indonesian island of Sumatra, from where an increasing number of journeys to Australia are being made.
Both Indonesian and Australian officials admit that the Rudd Government's relaxed police on processing refugee claims is behind an increased demand for the services of people-smugglers, many of whom are based in Jakarta.
“The 68 Afghan citizens will be picked up by immigration officials this afternoon,” Cilegon district police chief Dwi Gunawan was quoted by state news agency Antaraas saying.
Gunawan said the Afghans planned to travel to Australia.
The arrests come a day after a boat ferrying Afghani men exploded after being intercepted by the navy off Ashmore reef on Wednesday.
Indonesia has long been a transit country for illegal migration and people smuggling to Australia.
Authorities in March arrested an Afghanistan-born US national for fraud and people smuggling after he was suspected of bringing 47 Chinese to Indonesia on promises of work in Australia.
Forty-one Afghan migrants were detained and six suspected people smugglers arrested by Indonesian and Australian police on Sulawesi island in February.
Source: The Australian
Posts
