Police detain boatpeople

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: Police have detained 42 Afghan and Pakistani boatpeople who officials believed were bound for Australia, police said Tuesday.

Alor deputy police chief Maj. Yasirman was quoted by Antara as saying that the group, comprising mainly adult males, was arrested in a small village of Dulolong last week as they were about to board several small boats owned by local fishermen.

The official said all but 14 of them had entered Indonesia legally with proper travel documents.

He said the group was now in detention in Kupang awaiting deportation.

Australia has long complained that illegal immigrants, with the help of Asian crime syndicates, have been using Indonesia as a point for entry into Australia, which has thousands of kilometers of uninhabited coastline on its remote northwest coast.

Recently the two countries patched up a diplomatic row over the issue and agreed to cooperate to solve the problem. (byg)