"The Vietnamese immigrants were seized in the Lombok Timur area while they were about to cross to Australia on Friday evening, and are now being detained at Hotel Wisata in Ampenan, Mataram," head of law enforcement and control of the local immigration office in Mataram, Dorhan, said here on Saturday.
He noted that an illegal immigrant from Iran, meanwhile, had also been caught trying to cross to Australia.
He said he had coordinated his department`s actions with officials of the International Migration Office.
"They have been given accommodations at Hotel Wisata in Ampenan because there is not an immigration detention center on Lombok island. Now, more than 100 illegal immigrants from a number of countries, mostly from the Middle Eastern countries, have been detained there," he said.
Dorhan added that these people were fit to be deported to their countries of origin, but if they would reject being deported, IOM must finance their living costs while in detention until a third country is willing to accept them.
"We have kept coordinating with the IOM for further handling of the immigrants. Some, around 33 of them, will be sent to the Riau immigration detention center in Pekanbaru to avoid creating a backlog," he said.
Dorhan admitted that more than 200 illegal immigrants had been caught in the region in 2012, so far, and some had been sent to immigration detention centers in various regions.
On March 23, 33 illegal immigrants from Iraq and Palestine had been stranded on the southern coast of Lombok island while trying to cross to Australia and are now being held at the Hotel Wisata. The illegal immigrants had sought political asylum in Australia due to security problems in their own countries.
He said these people departed from East Java through the Indian Ocean and then headed towards Australia, becoming stranded on Lombok island.
"A lot of illegal immigrants have been caught lately in West Nusa Tenggara," he said. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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