TAKEN FOR A RIDE
Boat people go fishing with locals before being nabbed by authorities
DAINTREE fishermen picked up and took suspected illegal immigrants fishing, sightseeing and shared cigarettes and drinks before handing them over to authorities.
The revelation comes as 15 of the Vietnamese boat people were taken from the Cairns watch-house and put on a plane bound for Darwin last night.
They are believed to be part of a people smuggling venture, the first in four years, and are to be deported.
It is understood at least two remained at large in the Daintree rainforest after a foreign fishing trawler sank near Cape Kimberley, north of Port Douglas, on Sunday.
FIFTEEN illegal immigrants captured in an ongoing manhunt in the Daintree rainforest will be deported after “the first people-smuggling venture” in nearly four years.
Authorities refuse to confirm how many more Vietnamese boat people are on the run understood to be at least two after a foreign fishing trawler sank near Cape Kimberley, north of Cairns on Sunday.
Australian Border Force has come under intense criticism for the unexplained and embarrassing breach in the socalled “ring of steel” around “Fortress Australia”.
New Prime Minister Scott Morrison – who initially oversaw the nation’s secretive Stop the Boats operation – has also been left red-faced .
Last night, an unmarked white Airbus 319 was on the tarmac at Cairns Airport ready to fly the group direct to a Darwin detention centre.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton confirmed the boat that ran aground in Far North Queensland was “the first people-smuggling venture” in more than 1400 days.
“Clearly there’s been a failing when surveillance has not worked as it should,’’ Mr Dutton said.
“People smugglers have not and will never go out of business. They look to people as just another commodity.
“We know that there are 1400 people in Indonesia waiting to get on to boats, now.”
He said the would-be migrants would be deported “as quickly as possible.”
“We have been very clear that we won’t allow people who arrive illegally to settle in this country,” Mr Dutton said.
He said they would be sent back “once we understand all the facts.
Daintree locals told how the sunken vessel appeared to have enough diesel, food and water supplies onboard to travel as far south as Sydney.
Mackerel fisherman Colin Patterson, who towed the stricken trawler leaking oil and diesel to deeper water, said it had been deliberately scuttled in the mouth of the crocodileinfested Daintree River.
“It’s pretty shocking for Border Force that it can get all the way around the tip of Australia and down the east coast without being spotted,’’ Mr Patterson said.
“This was not an ordinary Indonesian fishing boat, it had not been used for fishing for some time, it was set up purely as a people smuggling boat.’’
He said the huge diesel and oil spill had spread more than a kilometre along the pristine coastline and was threatening the mackerel spawning season.
It is understood the trawler approached the coast under the cloak of darkness before it was first found by locals about 6.30am but it took authorities nearly five hours to respond.
Initial reports suggested up to 30 people had fled into mangroves and thick jungle but sources say that figure has been revised to 17 – with the skipper and first mate still hiding in the scrub.
ABF officials are understood to be going through pictures on mobile phones of detainees to determine exactly how many were onboard.