Man charged with people smuggling after pair arrested at remote bakery
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Border Force authorities have arrested two men at a bakery in Far North Queensland, hours after a group of asylum seekers landed ashore.
A 34-year-old Taiwanese man faced court on Wednesday charged with people smuggling while another man, 30, remained behind bars under the Migration Act with no charges laid.
The pair were eating sandwiches at a bakery when Border Force officials pounced. 9News
About a dozen men believed to be Chinese nationals arrived at Pennefather Beach, about 50 kilometres north of Weipa on the Cape Yorke Peninsula, in the cover of darkness early on Tuesday.
“Our friends came and saw us first thing in the morning and told us about a boat coming ashore during the night,” camper Dan Tonon said.
“They were going to go down and help them ’cause they thought they were bogged, but they were speaking a whole different language.”
Border Force authorities were alerted and helicopters began arriving on the sand, but the group had already been picked up by two alleged people smugglers, 9News understands.
Two alleged people smugglers were marched from a bakery in Weipa hours after about 12 Chinese nationals landed on a beach in the cover of darkness. 9News
It’s understood the group was driven into Weipa, where some of them went to the pub and others wandered by Woolworths.
CCTV shows two men, believed to be the alleged people smugglers, being questioned while eating sandwiches at the Weipa Bakery.
A Border Force helicopter arrived on the sand where the vessel landed, but the group had already left. 9News
They were arrested and marched from the shopping strip.
The Australian Border Force and Immigration Minister Tony Burke have declined to comment on whether the pair will face people smuggling charges.
Queensland Police Minister Dan Purdie said Border Force’s failure to intercept the boat sooner was “an embarrassment for the Albanese government”.
“The federal government needs to secure our borders,” Purdie said.
“I fear this will start a wave of newer illegal boats coming because they’ve found a chink in the armour,” Nationals MP David Littleproud added.
The 34-year-old, who faces up to 20 years in jail if found guilty, faced Cairns Magistrates Court on Wednesday via video link and was remanded in custody to face the same court on Thursday.
Border Force refused to reveal the whereabouts of the asylum seekers.
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