"We arrested the nine illegal immigrants from Afghanistan at Raden Intan airport when they were about to fly to Jakarta," he said here on Tuesday, adding that the nine were arrested because they failed to produce their passport.
"They are from Afghanistan. When we interrogated them, we found out that they had escaped from Bengkulu immigration detention centre," Sastro stated.
He said the police suspected that the nine illegal immigrants were being helped by someone, adding that the person was being hunted by the police.
"We suspect that someone was helping them obtain their airplane tickets for Jakarta so they could reach the UNHCR office," Sastro noted.
Every year, Lampung Police arrest illegal immigrants who are on their way to Australia.
In 2011, the police in Lampung arrested around 100 illegal immigrants whose ultimate destination was Australia. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
