 A BOATLOAD of alleged illegal immigrants had been stopped in Indonesia with Australian assistance, Justice Minister Chris Ellison said today. Senator Ellison said 14 people of Pakistani-Afghan background had been detained by Indonesian authorities, suspected of trying to reach the Australian mainland. Australian authorities were involved in helping their Indonesian counterparts in stopping the people smuggling effort, he said. "This is an alleged attempt to bring people illegally to Australia and demonstrates the very good working relationship that we have with the Indonesian authorities," he said on Channel 10. "Of course we have Australian Federal Police and Australian immigration authorities working with the Indonesian authorities. They've done an excellent job in this case in thwarting what is an alleged attempt to bring people illegally to Australia." |