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group of Indonesian citizens have claimed they received thousands of dollars from Australian authorities to transport 65 people from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar back to Indonesia following their failed attempt to bring the asylum seekers to Australian shores.

Last month, five Indonesian men were heading to Australia to transport the migrants in their boat when they were intercepted by an Australian Navy ship. After being questioned by Australian authorities aboard the ship, the asylum seekers, along with their Indonesian accomplices, agreed to return to Indonesia.

Their boat, however, sank in late May in waters near Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara, forcing local authorities to rescue them.

Following the incident, the Rote Ndao Police have arrested two crew members from the boat on people smuggling charges. Three other crew members, including the boat'€™s captain, are still at large.

Rote Ndao Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hidayat said the two crew members had told the police that Australian authorities had given each of the five crew members A$5,000 (US$3,860) before releasing them.

'€œThe money was given to the crew after they had been questioned aboard an Australian Navy ship,'€ Hidayat told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The Australian authorities, according to Hidayat, wanted the crew members to use the money as capital to start a new business.

'€œThe asylum seekers earlier promised that each of them would transfer Rp 30 million [$2,255] to the ship'€™s crew after they landed in Australia. That, however, never happened,'€ Hidayat said.

In 2013, Australia'€™s conservative government introduced tough immigration policies in a bid to stop an influx of refugees. Asylum seekers arriving on vessels are sent to Pacific camps and vessels are turned back when it is safe to do so, or taken back to their country of origin.

The military-led operation has so far helped the country significantly reduce the numbers attempting the route from Indonesia to Australia.

Australia'€™s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton preferred to remain tight-lipped on the allegation that Australia requested the Indonesian crew members bring the asylum seekers back to Indonesia in exchange for money.

'€œAt the appropriate time, we'€™ll make comments about turn-backs where we'€™ve done it, where it'€™s been safe to do so,'€ he told radio station 2GB on Thursday, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Hidayat, meanwhile, said several Australian Federal Police officers had been in Kupang since Wednesday to question the 65 asylum seekers and the detained crew members in a bid to cross-check the allegation.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir, meanwhile, said Indonesia was concerned that if such payments were happening, they could encourage human trafficking.

Bangladeshi Nazmul Hassan, one of the asylum seekers on the boat, said the Australian Navy had given them two new boats, fuel and food to return to Indonesia after undergoing questioning onboard their Navy ship.

'€œWe were asked to head back to Indonesia even though we were still floating in international waters,'€ he said.

Hassan, who speaks fluent English, also confirmed seeing the Indonesian crew members receiving money before leaving the ship.

'€œWe are looking for asylum in Australia due to poor conditions in our country. However, it turned out the [Indonesian] ship'€™s crew took the money [from Australia],'€ he said.