Australia sends home Sri Lankans from 'hijacked' boat
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos
Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen speaks to the media in Sydney on September 14, 2012 about the first planeload of asylum-seekers sent to the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru as part of the government's tough new stance on tackling a record influx of boatpeople. A group of 30 Sri Lankan men arrived on the remote outpost on September 14 after being flown from the Australian territory of Christmas Island, Bowen said, adding that the transfer went "smoothly and without incident". -- PHOTO AFP
SYDNEY (AFP) - A group of Sri Lankans who came to Australia on an allegedly hijacked fishing vessel have been returned home where some could face "serious charges", Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said today.
Fifteen people were picked up by Australian authorities on Thursday north-west of the Cocos Islands in a boat that was thought to have been hijacked in Sri Lankan waters on October 13, and 14 of them have been sent back.
"Of course, some of these people face serious charges in Sri Lanka," Mr Bowen told reporters, referring to the alleged hijacking and theft of the fishing trawler.
"The (Australian) government took the view that it's appropriate that they face those charges and that the removal occur as soon as possible."
