'Rogue' police may have helped smugglers

Some migrants see Indonesia as a stepping stone

A senior Indonesian police commander has said "rogue" officers may have taken bribes from people smugglers and helped forced people onto an overcrowded boat that sank killing about 350 people.

It is suspected that some police take money

Inspector General Engkesman Hillep

The police say they are investigating allegations by some of the 44 survivors, that armed police were working with the boat organisers.

Witnesses said some of the asylum seekers were wary of boarding the 19-metre boat, which sank off Java last week on the way to Australian waters

On Thursday top police commanders told AFP news agency that it was possible some police officers had been involved - but insisted the police as a whole were not corrupt.

Chief of detectives at national police headquarters, Inspector General Engkesman Hillep said it was "possible that some police are bribed by people smugglers".

"But not the police as an institution, just rogue police officers," he said. "It is suspected that some police take money."

Survivors' stories

Another senior police commander said members of other authorities might also be taking bribes.

Many drowned within minutes of the sinking

"Not just the police, other forces too, like the navy, or immigration officials," said the head of the Special Crimes Unit, Brigadier General Suharto.

United Nations officials have urged the Indonesian authorities to look into the allegations.

One survivor of the accident, an Iraqi, said on Wednesday that about 30 police officers armed with pistols and automatic weapons forced passengers onto the wooden boat, even though several did not want to go after seeing its poor condition.

"They said they were willing to kill us," said Achmad Hussein Ali, speaking through a translator. "The police even beat two refugees with their rifle butts."

He said a police boat then escorted the asylum-seekers' boat out of the port.

Extradition request

Another survivor, Ali Ahmmad, a Kurdish refugee from Iraq, said the police were working with three people-smugglers who were also armed.

But other survivors have said no-one forced them onto the boat.

Thousands of asylum seekers travel to Indonesia each year, using it as a springboard from which to get to Australia. But Australia has taken a hard line against boat people, and since August it has refused to accept them.

Since then it has turned away about 1,500 migrants, sending them to other countries including Nauru, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea for processing.

Australia has asked Indonesia to extradite one of the men it believes was behind the failed asylum attempt. Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock described the man as of Egyptian origin.

He said the suspect had been behind other people-smuggling operations, and that Australia had passed information on him to Indonesia on several occasions.