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MATARAM, Indonesia (AFP) – Indonesia has detained 56 Afghan migrants off the eastern island of Lombok who were attempting to travel by wooden boat to Australia, a navy official said Friday.
The migrants' boat was intercepted in the waters near Papakan island east of Lombok last night, local navy official Colonel Nanang Eko Ismurdianto told reporters.
"Our suspicion for the time being is they were trying to sail to Australia. They started their journey from Jakarta," he said, adding that they were all Afghan men.
Ismurdianto said some of the detained men were carrying identity cards issued by the Jakarta office of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
Three Indonesian boat crew were also arrested and were being questioned, he said.
One of the migrants, Mohammad Zeeshan, told reporters he was a web designer in Afghanistan who sold his home to seek asylum abroad and had travelled via Dubai, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia to Indonesia.
Zeeshan said he had paid 7,000 dollars to a middleman in the Indonesian capital Jakarta for his journey to Australia.
He described how he ended up on a boat with other Afghans after a two-day bus journey from Jakarta.
They were arrested on their third day at sea, he said, adding that the middleman refused to tell the Afghan migrants the route of their journey.
Zeeshan said the UNHCR had given him asylum seeker status but after about six months in Jakarta he said he had been waiting too long for the agency to send him to Australia.
A spokeswoman for the UNHCR could not be reached for comment.
A spokesman for the Indonesian Navy's Eastern Fleet, Tony Syaiful, said he suspected at least some of the 56 migrants detained were among 74 Afghans who went missing in the country's east in July.
Police found 15 of the migrants that month but the remainder are believed to have run away, he said.
"At that time we only found the boat while its passengers had run away because these illegal migrants didn't want to be arrested," he said.
"It's their modus operandi. After they fail, they never get tired of trying again."
Indonesia is a key staging point for people smugglers bringing Afghans and other nationals on the dangerous sea journey to Australia.
More than 1,000 migrants from countries including Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been caught in Indonesia since November last year.
The migrants' boat was intercepted in the waters near Papakan island east of Lombok last night, local navy official Colonel Nanang Eko Ismurdianto told reporters.
"Our suspicion for the time being is they were trying to sail to Australia. They started their journey from Jakarta," he said, adding that they were all Afghan men.
Ismurdianto said some of the detained men were carrying identity cards issued by the Jakarta office of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
Three Indonesian boat crew were also arrested and were being questioned, he said.
One of the migrants, Mohammad Zeeshan, told reporters he was a web designer in Afghanistan who sold his home to seek asylum abroad and had travelled via Dubai, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia to Indonesia.
Zeeshan said he had paid 7,000 dollars to a middleman in the Indonesian capital Jakarta for his journey to Australia.
He described how he ended up on a boat with other Afghans after a two-day bus journey from Jakarta.
They were arrested on their third day at sea, he said, adding that the middleman refused to tell the Afghan migrants the route of their journey.
Zeeshan said the UNHCR had given him asylum seeker status but after about six months in Jakarta he said he had been waiting too long for the agency to send him to Australia.
A spokeswoman for the UNHCR could not be reached for comment.
A spokesman for the Indonesian Navy's Eastern Fleet, Tony Syaiful, said he suspected at least some of the 56 migrants detained were among 74 Afghans who went missing in the country's east in July.
Police found 15 of the migrants that month but the remainder are believed to have run away, he said.
"At that time we only found the boat while its passengers had run away because these illegal migrants didn't want to be arrested," he said.
"It's their modus operandi. After they fail, they never get tired of trying again."
Indonesia is a key staging point for people smugglers bringing Afghans and other nationals on the dangerous sea journey to Australia.
More than 1,000 migrants from countries including Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been caught in Indonesia since November last year.
