Five asylum seekers have been detained after arriving on Saibai Island, just off the northern tip of Australia in the Torres Strait, originating from West Africa. Traveling approximately 14,000km using forged documents, their journey included stops in Indonesia and PNG.

Cape York

Five asylum seekers have been detained after arriving on Saibai Island, just 4km off the northern coast of Australia in the Torres Strait, originating from West Africa. Traveling approximately 14,000km using forged documents, their journey included stops in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea before reaching Australian territory. The group was discovered in crocodile-infested mangroves late in the afternoon, initially attempting to evade capture before being taken into custody by the Australian Border Force.

After their detention, the men received medical examinations and were subsequently moved to Thursday Island for processing. This incident marks a rare occurrence of asylum seekers reaching Australian soil by boat, recalling a previous event in August 2018 when 17 Vietnamese nationals arrived in Queensland. The response from Australian authorities highlights the ongoing political debate around national security and immigration, with recent critiques aimed at the effectiveness of Operation Sovereign Borders.

Operation Sovereign Borders, a military-led operation to combat people smuggling, has been scrutinized following this event and an earlier incident in Western Australia. The Prime Minister defended the program against criticisms, suggesting that attacks on the policy may inadvertently promote the activity of people smugglers. Opposition figures have challenged the government's stance, indicating a need for a more robust approach to national security and border control.



Asylum seekers arrive on boat from PNG

Let's believe the men boarded a dinghy and that took them to Papua New Guinea, but they had travelled much further, around 14,000km from West Africa through Indonesia and finally to Papua New Guinea using forged travel documents. They were detected on Saibai Island, which is just another 4km into the Torres Strait. They were found in crocodile-infested mangroves late yesterday afternoon. It's believed they initially tried to run from authorities, but as this vision shows, the Australian Border Force did catch up with them and took those five men into custody. They've since been medically checked and taken to Thursday Island. Now after another incident in Western Australia earlier this year, the Prime Minister made it clear that those who arrive illegally will not be settled in Australia, but even so, the opposition leader today had this to say. It shows that Operation Sovereign Borders is light at best under Anthony Albanese and again, it just shows that you can't have weakness as Prime Minister when it comes to national security matters. Now the last arrival in Queensland was in August 2018, when 17 Vietnamese nationals arrived in the daintry. They even helped local fishermen pull in crab pots. They were taken to Christmas Island and at the time, Peter Dutton was the Home Affairs Minister. Now after the incident in Western Australia last month, he was quick to criticise the current setup around Operation Sovereign Borders. The Prime Minister though, he bit back, saying that the criticism and the critique of the current program did nothing other than rather encourage people smugglers and those hoping for a better life in Australia to attempt to make that treacherous journey on the high seas.

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