Indonesian police have arrested an alleged people smuggler who has targeted Australia since 1999, Indonesian and Australian authorities said on Saturday.
Abraham Louhenapessy, also known as Captain Bram, was arrested in Jakarta before dawn on Friday, Indonesian National Police spokesman Colonel Boy Rafli Amar said.
“He allegedly helped to smuggle people into Indonesia and out of Indonesia by providing a ship and he was also the captain of that ship,” he said.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) suspected Louhenapessy was “the boss” of traffickers who have smuggled people into Australia and New Zealand, Amar said.
Louhenapessy is currently in police custody in Jakarta, but will be transferred to East Nusa Tenggara in the southwest of Indonesia to face trial.
Australian Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton said: “We know that Captain Bram is a key player in the people smuggling networks across Indonesia.”
Australian Minister for Justice Michael Keenan said Louhenapessy could face up to 10 years in prison.
“We are extremely pleased this notorious people smuggler has been stopped ... but we know there are more criminal people smugglers out there and we will continue to work with our regional partners to bring them to justice,” Keenan said in a statement.
Louhenapessy was arrested over a failed attempt to send 65 mostly Sri Lankan asylum seekers to Australia from Indonesia in May last year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Indonesian police confiscated Louhenapessy’s documentation, including his passport, along with flight tickets to Thailand, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, France and the United Arab Emirates during the arrest, Amar said.
In its fight to stop people smugglers, Australia has adopted a tough asylum seeker policy which sees it intercept boats at sea and send the occupants to Australian-funded detention camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. They are never eligible to be resettled in Australia.
The UN and human rights groups have called for the closure of the camps.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was