ID :
59888
Sun, 05/10/2009 - 18:06
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/59888
The shortlink copeid
People smuggler claims he's 'small fry'
An Indonesian man Australian Federal Police (AFP) want to have extradited to
Australia for alleged people smuggling offences says he is "nothing" in the trade
and the ringleaders pay bribes to avoid capture.
Since August 2008, when the federal government abolished temporary protection visas,
18 vessels carrying asylum seekers have been intercepted off Australia's coast.
According to Indonesian court documents, Hadi Ahmadi is accused of smuggling 17
individuals and five groups of an unspecified size to Australian shores from
Indonesia between 1999 and 2001.
He has been detained without charge for 10 months in Jakarta and if extradited will
be the first alleged people smuggler to be brought to Australia from Indonesia.
Speaking to SBS television's Dateline program, Ahmadi claims he is a small player in
the people smuggling trade.
"I'm sure (Australian authorities have) the wrong information about me," he said.
"They make me big, but I am nothing."
Ahmadi says an AFP officer tried to recruit him as a spy by offering him freedom and
a passport if he helped an investigation into the people smuggling industry.
"I (said): `That's a dangerous thing, I don't want to do it,' to which the AFP
officer replied: `Okay. So you will be in a big hole. You can't go out'," Ahmadi
said.
He says he is being targeted over "real smugglers", because he does not have the
money to bribe Indonesian authorities to gain his release.
"Real smugglers working now ... nobody touch them. Many smugglers are free in
Jakarta now. They are working. Nobody touch them. Even the police arrest them. They
pay money and get free," he said.
The interview on SBS television's Dateline program airs at 8.30pm (AEST) on Sunday.