Australia donates 3 patrol boats to RI to curb people-smuggling

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 03/16/2011

The Australian government will donate three patrol boats worth a total of US$5 million to Indonesia to help tackle the issue of people-smuggling through Indonesian-Australian waterways.

"The high-speed patrol boats will be placed in a number of strategic locations in Indonesia,” Australian Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said on Wednesday after meeting with Indonesian National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo at the National Police headquarters in Jakarta, tempointeraktif.com reported.

The three boats are currently being worked on by an Australian company in three different locations: Perth, Australia, Vietnam and Singapore.

Australia also donated $4.8 million to upgrade equipment and facilities at the Indonesian National Police's cyber crime center.