VIVAnews - Police apprehended 30 Afghans heading towards Australia at Bau Bau Bay, North Sulawesi, on Monday, Feb. 2.
According to Mobile Investigation Squad at Indonesian Police Directorate I of Crime and Investigation Division, Chief Commissioner A. Untung Sangaji, they were arrested for illegally smuggling into the country.
"The arrest was directly supported by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) team as well as Bau Bau Police Department," Sangaji told VIVAnews on Monday, Feb 2. Police, he went on to say, set up air surveillance to monitor the perpetrators.
"For the time being, the case is being investigated," said Sangaji.
In addition to capturing the Afghan nationals, police also detained six Indonesians who were allegedly involved in the smuggling. "The middleman's name is Tahir. [There are] also four ship crew members and a sea captain from Kupang," said Sangaji. The six Indonesians have been named suspects.
According to Sangaji, the Afghans left Jakarta by using a ferry. "By the time they reached Bau Bau, a log ship had waited for them. That was where police arrested them," he said.
Indonesia and Australia have committed to wipe out human smuggling and trafficking. The joint commitment was attached in a Joint Statement of the 9th Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Forum (AIMF) on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime signed by Indonesian Foreign Minister Nur Hassan Wirajuda and Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith on November 12, 2008.
It is important to hold the commitment inasmuch as Australian territories have been penetrated by Indonesian boats carrying people seeking for sanctuary since September 2008.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had phoned Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on October 2008 concerning the smuggling of scores of foreigners to Australia by Indonesian perpetrators.
Translated by: Bonardo Maulana Wahono
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