Thai fishermen to be deported

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Belawan port officials are impatient to deport the 55 Thai fishermen arrested on February, 19 of whom are suspected of being HIV positive, but are being stumped by document problems.

Antara quoted an immigration officer as saying yesterday that a number of "technical problems" are hampering the effort to send the fishermen home, including the fact that they only have "seamen's books" rather than passports.

In addition the Thai Embassy representatives who visited Belawan recently said that only 40 of the fishermen were citizens of Thailand.

Lt. Col. Iskandar Lubis, who heads the investigation team, said the remaining 15 are believed to be Myanmarese. He added, however, that he is still awaiting confirmation on this from the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta.

The fishermen and their four boats were impounded in February for illegally fishing in Indonesian waters. (swe)