ID :
79648
Sat, 09/12/2009 - 23:54
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/79648
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NAVY CAPTURES 70 AFGHAN ILLEGALS TRYING TO REACH AUSTRALIA
Mataram, Indonesia, Sept 12 (ANTARA) - Indonesian naval personnel based in Mataram on Friday captured 14 Afghans who were part of 70 Afghan illegal immigrants in a boat intercepted a day earlier in East Lombok waters, a naval spokesman said.
The 14 Afghan illegals managed to take life boats to escape to some islets when the navy apprehended their larger boat that had been carrying 70 of them on Thursday (Sept 10). "But we pursued the 14 and finally caught them on Friday," Major Ali, operations officer at the Navy's Mataram base, said here Saturday.
The 70 Afghan illegals had rented the motor boat to try to reach Australia but it appeared that at the time they were apprehended, they were on their way to a ship that was waiting for them farther out in the ocean, Ali said.
He said, the Mataram naval base command was now coordinating with the local immigration office and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the further processing of the Afghan illegals.
"We suggest all Afghan illegal immigrants be sent to another shelter because West Nusa Tenggara has already been keeping more than 140 immigrants from several countries since 2007," he said.
IOM, Ali said, had agreed to facilitate the sending of the 70 Afghan immigrants to a shelter in Jakarta.
In the past 18 months, hundreds of asylum seekers from Afghanistan came to Indonesia as a place of transit on their way to Australia. The asylum seekers had hoped to lead a better life there.
But for many of them, the journey stopped in Indonesia which has yet to sign the international convention on refugees and therefore refuses to give them asylum.***
The 14 Afghan illegals managed to take life boats to escape to some islets when the navy apprehended their larger boat that had been carrying 70 of them on Thursday (Sept 10). "But we pursued the 14 and finally caught them on Friday," Major Ali, operations officer at the Navy's Mataram base, said here Saturday.
The 70 Afghan illegals had rented the motor boat to try to reach Australia but it appeared that at the time they were apprehended, they were on their way to a ship that was waiting for them farther out in the ocean, Ali said.
He said, the Mataram naval base command was now coordinating with the local immigration office and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the further processing of the Afghan illegals.
"We suggest all Afghan illegal immigrants be sent to another shelter because West Nusa Tenggara has already been keeping more than 140 immigrants from several countries since 2007," he said.
IOM, Ali said, had agreed to facilitate the sending of the 70 Afghan immigrants to a shelter in Jakarta.
In the past 18 months, hundreds of asylum seekers from Afghanistan came to Indonesia as a place of transit on their way to Australia. The asylum seekers had hoped to lead a better life there.
But for many of them, the journey stopped in Indonesia which has yet to sign the international convention on refugees and therefore refuses to give them asylum.***
