The Jakarta Post, 11/10/2003 1:52:59 PM
RI to move asylum-seekers to Ambon for immigration processing
JAKARTA (AFP) : A boatload of asylum-seekers who landed in an eastern Indonesian
island after being controversially turned back by the Australian navy will be transferred
to another island for immigration processing, police said on Monday.
"They are currently under our custody but will be sent to Ambon by sea tomorrow,"
said Ahmad Yani, the police chief in Saumlaki town on Yamdena island.
He said the 14 men, suspected to be Kurds from Turkey, were reported by local
residents to have landed on Saturday and police took them to Saumlaki for
questioning.
Yani told AFP police are also seeking two or three other people who had been on the
"Minasa Bone" -- believed to be the Indonesian crew.
"We do not have an immigration office here and therefore theywill be sent to the
provincial police headquarters in Ambon where the police will be able to liaise with the
immigration office there," Yani said.
He declined to say whether the 14 had sought asylum in Indonesia, adding that there
are language difficulties in communicating with them.
Yani said representatives of the International Organization for Migration are already
assisting the 14 men, who are under police custody at a local inn.
"Their wooden boat is not at all seaworthy for long sea journeys and they say the
Australian navy had disabled one of its two engines," Yani said.
The boat had sailed into a storm of controversy when it arrived at Melville Island, near
the northern Australian city of Darwin, last Tuesday.
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