A boat carrying nine Chinese nationals was turned back by Australian Border Force officials forcing the passengers to return to their point of departure in Indonesia.
The human cargo of intended illegal immigrants were found by fishermen off Southern Java after claiming they were denied landing and forced back by Australian authorities, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reports.
The Chinese passengers, along with three Indonesian crew members, were sent back to the port town of Pelabuhan Ratu as part of Australia’s Operation Sovereign Borders which officially enforces a “turn back the boats” policy without exception.
File/A foreign vessel accused of fishing illegally in the vicinity of Rowley Shoals of Australia is set on fire after its crew was taken off. Australia acts to deter illegal fishing by making a spectacle of their enforcement, lining confiscated boats with explosives and setting them aflame. (Australian Border Force via AP)
The port has long been known as a departure point for illegal smuggling vessels.
It is the fourth known attempt Chinese national groups have made to break through to Australia in 2024, after having been told by people smugglers that asylum awaits them should they make landfall.
Australia has long had one of the toughest anti-migrant boat policies in the world and never hesitates to push back vessels carrying intended illegals.
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The Indonesian crew members told the local authorities different statements, with one saying they had been “captured by the Australian navy” who transferred them all to a new “lifeboat” before pushing them back to Indonesia.
Another claimed the navy had sent them back in their original boat.
Conservative coalition opposition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson told the Weekend Australian newspaper that another attempt by smugglers to cross the country’s borders showed the left-wing Labor government’s “failure” to properly monitor and secure it even as the rest of the world looks to follow the push back against illegal migrants.
“People smugglers are continuing to test Australia’s borders because of the Albanese government’s failure to deliver adequate maritime patrol data and aerial surveillance hours,” he said.
“Unless Labor shows strength and restores operation sovereign borders the boats will continue to come, and some will break through all the way to the Australian mainland again.”