Jakarta Holds Police Accused of Aiding Smugglers

Two Indonesian police officers have been arrested for allegedly protecting smugglers who organized an ill-fated refugee boat for illegal migrants that sank last week, killing 374 people.

National Police Chief Gen. Suroyo Bimantoro told reporters today that the two police officers had been arrested in Riau province, islands off Sumatra.

“I have checked the report from Riau police that two members have been arrested, and now we are investigating this. They were acting as guards,” Bimantoro said when asked if any police had been involved in the Oct. 19 tragedy.

Bimantoro on Thursday had denied media reports that police pointed their guns at frightened immigrants who wanted to get off the boat because they feared it was unsafe for the journey to neighboring Australia.

Senior U.N. officials in Indonesia on Wednesday called for the government to investigate allegations by survivors that police threatened to kill them if they did not board the vessel.

Achmad Hussein Ali, an Iraqi who survived the shipwreck, said Wednesday that police armed with pistols and automatic weapons forced 418 passengers to board the boat even though several did not want to after seeing its poor condition.

“They said they were willing to kill us,” he said, speaking through a translator. “The police even beat two refugees with their rifle butts.”

Ali said a police vessel escorted the 60-foot-long wooden boat out of Indonesian waters. The refugee boat sank after a water pump broke.

Another survivor, Ali Ahmmad, a Kurdish refugee from Iraq, said the police were working with three smugglers--an Egyptian named Abu Quessain and two Iraqis--who were also armed.

Other asylum seekers had said earlier that they were not coerced onto the boat.

In Australia on Wednesday, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said the authorities have long suspected Quessain’s involvement in people trafficking.

Indonesian police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf said he had not heard of Quessain. He said an investigation had been launched.