The illegal immigrants had reached Australia'€™s Christmas Island and stayed there for three days, an official of the Sukabumi Immigration office, Markus Lenggo, quoted the immigrants as saying.

"They said they crossed to the Australian island from the Pamengpeuk coastal village of Garut [in West Java] on March 17, but after three days they were sent back to Indonesian territory," Markus said.

The 15 illegal immigrants -- six from Iran including three girls, seven from Bangladesh and two from Nepal - were found stranded on the coast of Pangumbahan in Sukabumi by the police on Sunday.

They were then sent to the Sukabumi Immigration Office, which put them in its detention center, he said. Nine of them were in possession of official documents from the UNHCR refugee agency showing that they were asylum seekers, but the rest claimed that they had lost their documents.

"We are awaiting directions from IOM [International Organization for Migration] and the Law and Human Rights Ministry on what to do with the immigrants," he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

One of the asylum seekers, Muhamad Baleyet Husain from Bangladesh, said the Australian authorities told them they had to be sent back to Indonesia as the two countries were in the midst of a political row following the planned execution of two Australians drug convicts.

"We arrived on Christmas Island but the local authorities sent us back to Indonesian waters using a boat accompanied by Australian officers," Husain said.

Husain, who spoke fluent Indonesian, said he had stayed in Indonesia for six months before attempting to seek asylum in Australia.(idk)(+++)

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