The 13 Iraqis and three Indonesian crew were returned to Indonesia on this vessel.
The original vessel was seized,the crew told Indonesian police,and the passengers and crew were returned to Indonesia on a different boat. They were taken to a local police station after arriving on Rote island on Wednesday.
“The information is that[the wooden boat] was held back by the Australian customs,” Rote Ndao police chief I Nyoman Putra Sandita said.
He said according to one of the Iraqis on board,the group left Iraq on November 11 and travelled to Jakarta and Makassar,the capital of South Sulawesi province,before heading to Rote Ndao,from where they departed for Australia.
Police said there were six women and three children on the boat,the youngest a one-year-old boy.
Australian Border Force said it didn’t comment on “operational matters”. It typically does not confirm maritime patrol operations until weeks later,in monthly reports published online.
According to those reports,a boat has not been intercepted from Indonesia under Operation Sovereign Borders since January 2020.
The only boats that have been intercepted since then have come from Sri Lanka,after hundreds of people boarded rickety fishing vessels this yearto escape the hardship of a crippling economic crisis. The majority of the boats were rounded up by Sri Lanka’s navy,but 183 people made it to Australian waters on six boats between May and August,and were returned by air and sea to Colombo.