The Indonesian Police revealed on Friday that the Australian Navy had turned back 34 undocumented migrants when their boat reached Australian waters near Christmas Island. On the same day in Canberra, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott claimed his government’s harsh policy against unwanted asylum seekers had drastically reduced the arrival of boat people to Australia. Pangandaran Water Police Unit chief Adj. Comr. Firman Alamsyah said undocumented migrants found stranded in a lifeboat at Pangandaran Beach in West Java told police they had been driven away from Australian waters. “This was their [the migrants] story,” he confirmed. Firman said 21 undocumented migrants were from Iran (three of them below 5 years old), five from Bangladesh, six from Nepal and two others from Pakistan. They arrived in Christmas Island waters on Jan. 28 by a wooden boat, which was immediately intercepted by the Australian authorities. On the evening of Feb. 5, they were found stranded on Pangandaran Beach. During the voyage back to Indonesia, the lifeboat was escorted to open sea by an Australian vessel, an aircraft and a high speed inflatable boat. The lifeboat then headed to Cilacap, Central Java and was eventually seized by the police. 8-02-2014
Posted on: Sun, 09 Feb 2014 11:08:59 +0000
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