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Islands in focus: Police display $100 bills paid to RI crew
The Rote Ndao Police in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) have defended their decision to publicly display money that they confiscated from the captain and five crew members of an Indonesian boat who claim they were paid by Australian authorities to transport dozens of asylum seekers back to Indonesian shores
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he Rote Ndao Police in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) have defended their decision to publicly display money that they confiscated from the captain and five crew members of an Indonesian boat who claim they were paid by Australian authorities to transport dozens of asylum seekers back to Indonesian shores.
'After building the case, we decided to display the money to the media so the public knows that we are not making up stories,' Rote Ndao Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hidayat told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The skipper and his crew claimed they were paid thousands of dollars by Australian authorities to transport 65 people from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar back to Indonesia following their failed attempt to take the asylum seekers to New Zealand.
On Tuesday, the Rote Ndao Police displayed for the first time the $100 bills they confiscated from the skipper, Johanes Humiang, and hisfive crew members, who have been arrested on human-trafficking charges, to the public.
Johanes, Hidayat said, was paid US$6,000 while his crew members received $5,000 each. Hidayat explained that the money was paid in US dollars, not Australian as reported earlier.
The police, however, only confiscated $26,100 from Johanes and his crew. 'They spent some of the money,' Hidayat said.
