CILACAP: Asylum-seekers who washed ashore in Indonesia have claimed the Australian navy blew up their vessel after forcing the would-be refugees into a lifeboat and turning them back to Java, police said.
Indonesian police found the orange lifeboat and 26 asylum-seekers Monday on Java island’s south coast. The would-be refugees said they were turned around attempting to reach the Australian territory of Christmas Island.
After setting off from the port of Pelabuhan Ratu in southern Java, they were intercepted by the Australian navy entering Australian waters and transferred to the lifeboat, police said.
Australia has purchased the lifeboats as part of its military-led operation to stem the influx of would-be refugees by returning them to Indonesia, a policy that has angered Jakarta.
After putting the asylum-seekers in the lifeboat, the navy destroyed their vessel, Wasidi, police spokesman in Kebumen district where the stranded boat was found, said.
“After they transferred the migrants to the Australian ship, the wooden boat they took from Pelabuhan Ratu was then blown up by the Australian navy,” said the spokesman, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Wasidi said the boat’s Indonesian crew, who have also been detained, had given him the accounts.
Japanese fall for room fraud
TOKYO: A group of singletons in Japan who claim they were tricked into buying apartments by real estate agents feigning a romantic interest in them launched legal action yesterday.
Two men and 10 women, all aged in their 30s or early 40s, filed a lawsuit against 14 firms, including real estate agencies and loan companies, demanding a total of $1.95m in compensation.
According to their lawyers, the plaintiffs had become emotionally involved with people they met on online dating sites, with many being led to believe they were heading toward tying the knot.
Their intendeds, however, were more interested in pushing property and talked each alleged victim into buying at least one condominium, with an average price tag of $254,000, the lawyers said.
Once contracts were signed and sealed, the romance disappeared and the estate agent skipped out of the relationship, leaving the new homeowners with the keys to a new front door but not to anyone else’s heart. “These firms’ employees made the plaintiffs buy the condominiums, taking advantage of their romantic feelings,” said lawyer Shinichi Hirasawa.
“This is a flagrant scheme because the victims were made to purchase the real estate sometimes at prices 30 to 40 percent above the market rate,” he said. AGencies
