AUSTRALIA-INDONESIA/ASYLUM Asylum-seeker on boat turned away from Australia says officers paid smugglers

Record ID: 151356

  • Title: AUSTRALIA-INDONESIA/ASYLUM Asylum-seeker on boat turned away from Australia says officers paid smugglers
  • Date: 16th June 2015
  • Summary: KUPANG, EAST NUSA TENGGARA PROVINCE, INDONESIA (RECENT - JUNE 4, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF INA BOY HOTEL INA BOY HOTEL ENTRANCE ASYLUM SEEKERS GATHERED IN HOTEL HALL (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Malaysia) SRI LANKAN MIGRANT, KAYURAN, SAYING: "The people who brought us took the money, the money given by Australia's custom officer. When they (smugglers) came back to us, they said t
  • Embargoed: 1st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4Q1UX1G4V2WIBP1V75YKXMK0V
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A Sri Lankan aslyum-seeker who said he was on board a vessel pushed back from Australia has alleged that smugglers were paid by Australian immigration authorities and told to go back to Indonesian waters.
    Speaking to reporters at a temporary detention centre in a hotel in Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara Province, eastern Indonesia, on June 4, the aslyum-seeker from Sri Lanka named Kayuran said he saw what took place.
    "The people who brought us took the money, the money given by Australia's customs officer. When they (smugglers) came back to us, they said they will bring us back to Indonesia," Kayuran said who arrived in Kupang on a boat on June 2nd.
    Kayuran said 65 people were on the boat heading towards Australia. When they reached Australian waters, they were divided into two groups and escorted by immigration officials to the Indonesian border.
    "In the morning at about seven or eight o'clock, they put us into two small boats, separated us into a groups of 35 and of 36 with three crew members in each boat. They (immigration officers) brought us to Indonesia's border, and then they went back to Australian waters. They waited there. They said they could not move further (into the Indonesian waters). When the boats approached the island (Rote Island, where they landed), the six smugglers who brought us tried to run away as they were holding the money, so they tried to run," he said.
    Smugglers, who were later arrested by Indonesian police, tried to flee when the boats almost ran out of fuel off the island of Rote.
    "They, the Australian customs and Navy, did not call the police or Navy (from Indonesia). They only gave us very limited fuel to reach the waters off Rote island. When our fuel almost ran out, we couldn't go to other places. The crew wanted to fight, wanted to run away and we were trying to stop them," said Kayuran.
    Calls emerged earlier this week for an inquiry into Australian officials paying people-smugglers thousands of dollars to turn their Australia-bound boats back to Indonesia.
    On Saturday (June 13), Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir said Australia would have stooped to a "new low" if the reports were true. Indonesia has yet to receive clarification from Australia on the circumstances surrounding the push-back, Deputy Foreign Minister A.M. Fachir told reporters on Monday (June 15).
    Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop lashed out at Jakarta in an interview with The Australian newspaper published on Monday, blaming Indonesia for what she called lax border controls.
    The allegations are adding further strain to ties between uneasy neighbours Australia and Indonesia, which were only just beginning to improve after Indonesia's execution of two Australians on drugs charges earlier this year.
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