Fifteen Indonesians under arrest in Australia on trafficking

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 03/16/2009 9:33 PM  

Since smuggling became rife, hundreds foreign asylum seekers came to Australia by boat, and up to September 29, 2008, fifteen Indonesians had been arrested and brought to justice in Perth, West Australia, an Indonesian diplomat said. 

"Right now 15 Indonesians had been arrested for alleged involvement in human trafficking," Consul for information, social, and cultural affairs at the Indonesian Consulate in Perth Ricky Suhendar told Antara Monday when asked on the latest development of human trafficking to Australia involving Indonesians. 

They were Abdul Hamid (sentenced six years in jail), Manpombili, Arman, Arsil, Abdul Hamid Daeng Siga, Yantonce, Ibrahim Ferdy, Laode Tasri, Mimuk, Sumarto, Ade Haydar, Amos Ndolo, Ali Topan Samsir, Muchlas Ahmad, and Hamirudin, he said. 

The 15 came from Indonesia's eastern provinces like West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), and South Sulawesi, he said. 

The Indonesian Consulate in Perth provided consular and humanitarian assistance to the Indonesians being held at the Hakea Jail in Perth. "The consulate facilitated our citizens in confinement with a telephone car if they missed their families at home," Ricky said. 

With regard to the arrest of the boat carrying 52 Afghan asylum seekers by an Australian patrol boat HMAS Bundaberg off the Darwin northeast coast on March 14, 2009, Ricky said he had already been notified that the skipper of the boat was an Indonesian. 

The information on the skipper's nationality was based on a verbal notification from the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra which had received such information from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), he said. 

Ricky said that normally, Indonesians suspected of involvement in human trafficking, were sent to Perth after a health check, where they will undergo a legal procession. 

The boat with 52 asylum seekers on board arrested over the last weekend, was the ninth caught by the Australian police since September 2008. 

On March 5, 2009, a Perth court of law has sentenced Abdul Hamid, skipper of a boat carrying 12 Iranian and Afghan illegal migrants on September 29, 2008, six years in jail. 

The Australian government called the sentence on the Indonesian who came from Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, a strong message to human trafficking to Australia.