Sydney: Indonesian police on Sunday said they had intercepted a wooden boat carrying around 80 asylum-seekers from the Middle East, believed to be heading to Australia from the resort island of Bali.
The island’s marine police intercepted the migrants, including women and children, at dawn as they were travelling in the waters off the island’s Benoa harbour, marine police chief Tubuh Musyareh told AFP.
“The police on patrol became suspicious as they were venturing off the designated route for fishing boats. We asked for travel documents which the captain couldn’t produce,” he said.
“We checked and found many believed to be illegal migrants from the Middle East hiding inside the hull. We suspect they are going to Australia,” he added.
Police arrested the captain and a crew member after the boat was towed to the harbour. Only 20 of the migrants have disembarked, Musyareh said.
“The rest are refusing to leave the boat as they insist on going to Australia. We believe some are from Afghanistan and Turkey. We are still talking to them,” he said, adding that they have been in Bali for two weeks.
Indonesia is a common transit point for asylum seekers trying to reach Australia’s Christmas Island, which is closer to Java than mainland Australia. Many board leaky wooden vessels that sometimes never reach their destination.
