REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PADANG - A joint team of military and police officers have caught 93 illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka attempting to go to Australia. The chief of the 0319 Mentawai Military Region, Lt. Col, Josafat Duka, said when asked for his confirmation on the case on Saturday on the illegal immigrants were found in the waters of Sikakap in the village of Malakopa, Pagai Selatan sub-district in the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra.

"They were found at around 1pm on Thursday and Friday after being adrift in the sea for seven days with the engines of their boats did not function," he said.

The immigrants include women and children aged around three years old, he said. "They departed from Sri Lanka and were believed to go to Australia to seek an asylum," he said.

He said according to one of the immigrants they left Sri Lanka 27 days ago by two boats. "One boat carried 40 to 50 people who wished to go to Australia to seek an asylum," he said.

He said the immigrants have now been handed over to the police for investigation. "We have also submitted the two boats used by the immigrants," he said.

The chief of the resort police of Mentawai Islands District, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Cucuk Trihono, confirmed that dozens of immigrants from Sri Lanka had been put in custody. They have been accomodated at Nasional Kui Buidling in Sikakap, Mentawai Islands while the police is still investigating and developing the case.

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