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Kupang Police detain 87 asylum seekers
The Kupang city police have arrested 87 Middle Eastern migrants after the boat they were traveling in became stranded off Batakte Beach in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) on Wednesday
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he Kupang city police have arrested 87 Middle Eastern migrants after the boat they were traveling in became stranded off Batakte Beach in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) on Wednesday.
'We were finally able to arrest them after their vessel became stranded at Batakte Beach,' Kupang Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Marzuki said as reported by Antara news.
The 87 migrants comprised 66 Iranians, five Iraqis, two Pakistanis, two Syrians and 12 Sudanese. The police also recorded that there were five children, 19 women and 68 men on the boat.
He said that following preliminary questioning, the migrants were en route to Australia to seek political asylum. The police, he went on, intended to hand them over to the Immigration Office.
Separately, NTT Immigration Office head Silvester Sili Laba confirmed the arrest of the 87 migrants.
'We are now waiting for the police to transfer them to our detention center,' Silvester said.
East Nusa Tenggara is known as a popular transit spot for migrants trying to make their way to Australia.
Last year, the Kupang Immigration Office detained 414 migrants from Middle Eastern countries en route to Australia.(hrl/dic)
