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Indonesians charged with people smuggling

Ten Indonesians have faced a Brisbane court on people smuggling charges, amid reports up to 40 other alleged smugglers will be transferred from interstate.

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Source: AAP


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Ten Indonesian men have appeared in a Brisbane court on people smuggling charges.

They're accused of smuggling 76 Afghan asylum seekers to Australia between December 2009 and January 2010.

They were arrested on Thursday and were transferred from a Darwin detention centre into police custody in Brisbane.

Bamba Maja, 27, Asran Awin, 25, Bantang Haris Daeng, 49, Iiyas De-Nyonr, 34, Geno Salim, 35, and Dahlan Karabi, 46, have been charged with organising and bringing groups of non-citizens into Australia.

Randy Ado, 22, Abubakar, 67, Sukarno, 38 and Robet Okana, 36, have been charged with facilitating the bringing of a group of five or more non citizens into Australia.

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The men did not apply for bail and were remanded in custody. Their cases are due for mention in the same court on July 9, but they will not be required to appear.

If convicted they face maximum jail terms of 20 years.

More suspects

Meanwhile, the ABC has reported that up to 40 other smuggling suspects will soon be transferred from interstate detention centres to Brisbane for court appearances.

Queensland deputy opposition leader Lawrence Springborg also told the ABC the federal government was going to have to start compensating states for the costs associated with dealing with people smugglers.

"It's very much a national problem and that problem is going to have to be dealt with nationally," he said.

"And the simple reality is that the Commonwealth is going to have to support the various state jurisdictions to be able to accommodate these people once they have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment."

The West Australian government declared last month it will no longer shoulder the "unfair" burden of housing the majority of people smugglers in the state's prisons.


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