Thai fishermen to be deported

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)