Australia puts bounty on heads of people smugglers

Asylum Seekers

The Australian government will award bounty payments of up to $200,000 for those individuals who can provide information that will help the AFP crack down on people smugglers.

The announcement by Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare follows a breakthrough deal under which asylum seekers who come to Australia by boat will be resettled in Papua New Guinea.

Mr Clare today said the reward payments would help Australian authorities lock up people smugglers and smash their syndicates stretching from Australia to Indonesia and beyond to nations like Malaysia, Pakistan and Iraq.

“These people are peddling in misery and death. We need to shut this market down. That’s why we are putting a bounty on their heads,” Mr Clare said. “We have taken the product they are selling off the shelves, we also need to lock these people up.”

The AFP currently has more than 60 personnel focused on thwarting people smuggling into Australia.

“There’s not one syndicate, there’s numerous and the commodity in this case, unfortunately, are human beings,” said Australian Federal Police assistant Commissioner Ramzi Jabbour.

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