Indonesia seeks answers on claims Australian navy paid people smugglers

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/13/indonesia-seeks-answers-on-claims-australia-paid-traffickers-to-turn-back

Diplomatic tension as suspected people smugglers told police Australian authorities paid them $5,000 each to turn their vessel back to Indonesia

Indonesia seeks answers on claims Australian navy paid people smugglers
13 June 2015 03.50 EDT

Indonesia has asked Australia’s ambassador to explain claims that the country’s navy paid people smugglers $US5,000 each to take their boat carrying 65 refugees back into Indonesian waters.

The Jakarta government has accused Canberra of stooping to a “new low” if the claims made by the boat’s captain and two crew members turn out to be true.

The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, who won power partly on a promise to stop asylum seeker boats from coming to Australia, has not denied the reports.

~snip~

She told him Indonesia were “really concerned” about the claims, which emerged after the people smugglers were arrested this week on suspicion of human trafficking. They told Indonesian police that Australian authorities had paid each of them $US5,000 ($A6450) to turn back their vessel with 65 migrants on board.