Police Detained 77 Illegal Immigrants

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, May 28 (Antara) - The Rote Ndao district police in East Nusa Tenggara detained 77 illegal immigrants on Ndao Island on Monday.

Contacted from here on Tuesday, Rote Ndao Police Chief Adjunct Commissioner Besar Hidayat said the 77 illegal immigrants left Larerea port in Sinjai, South Sulawesi, on May 19, 2013 for Australia.

But when they approached Asmore Reef, bordering Australia, their boat was hit by big waves and forced to take shelter on Ndao Island where they were detained by the local police.

"Escorted by 30 policemen from Rote Ndao, several TNI officials and International Organization for Migration (IOM) officials, we evacuate the 77 detained illegal immigrants to Kupang on Tuesday to be held at the local immigration detention center," Hidayat said.

According to him, the illegal immigrants, made up of 59 men and 18 women and, were from Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Iran.

"After we detained them, we identified them and checked their health, and then evacuated them to Kupang today by MV Bahari Express," he said. (*/DWA)