A group of 15 men from Bangladesh found at a beach on Indonesian’s southernmost Rote island have told police they were held on an Australian Border Force (ABF) ship for a fortnight before being turned back.
Police on Rote island say the men are among a larger group that was intercepted, and that there are approximately 26 others still unaccounted-for.
The men were found by a local resident on Thursday morning at Rote and reported to police.
The police chief on Rote, Mardiono, said the men were brought to the island by Indonesian crew members who had originally sought to take them to Christmas Island.
He said the crew members dropped the Bangladeshi men at the coastline and then fled with the wooden boat, and so far haven’t been found.
The men told police they had originally arrived in Jakarta from Malaysia in early December and then sought to travel to Christmas Island, using an Indonesian fishing boat crew from West Java to take them.
They say Australian authorities intercepted them around December 3, the same day that Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was in Jakarta meeting counterparts to discuss people smuggling, among other topics.
The account of the men can’t be independently verified.
The ABC has contacted the Department of Home Affairs that oversees Border Force, although there was no immediate reply after hours.
In the past the department has declined to comment about “operational matters”.
Police on Rote island say the 15 men are among a larger group that was intercepted, and that there are approximately 26 others still unaccounted-for. (Supplied)
Mardiono says the men claimed to have been given a wooden boat by the ABF to head to Rote, which if true, contrasts with the aluminium boats that other intercepted groups claim they were given in similar circumstances earlier this year.
The arrival of the group in Rote is the first since July and the sixth this year where Indonesian authorities have detained people seeking to go through the country to get to Australia by boat.
At least another four boats of either asylum seekers or economic migrants have made it to Australian waters this year.
As home affairs minister, Tony Burke has discussed Indonesian cooperation on people smuggling twice since July during visits to the country, while Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto identified people smuggling as a “common problem” that the two countries face, vowing during a meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last month to put it high on his agenda.
Previous groups that were taken into custody by Indonesian police this year after seeking to head to Australia by boat included people from Bangladesh, ethnic Rohingyas and Chinese nationals.
