He said the illegal immigrants from Iran were arrested with two brokers who were suspected to be planning to transport them by a boat to Ashmore Reef in Australian waters in the Timor Sea.
But the identity of the two brokers from South Sulawesi was still a secret, and they were still being held in Kupang City police cell.
"The police arrested them after receiving information that the two brokers were looking for a fishing boat to transport the illegal immigrants from Iran to Australia," Moon Bagarai said.
He said that from the two brokers, the police got the information that the immigrants were staying at a hotel in Kelapa Lima area.
During questioning, the police found that the Iranian immigrants had complete documents such as passports and visas.
"They also claimed to be tourists who wanted to spend their holidays in Kupang and not immigrants. But we do not believe them because similar cases frequently happen," he said.
According to him, immigration officials were familiar with such cases so even though they had complete documents, they would not be released after being arrested.
"The illegal immigrants from Iran are at present still being detained by the Kupang immigration office in Kota Baru sub-district," he said.(*)
O001/HAJM
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
