Indon soldiers caught with asylum seekers

Five members of the Indonesian military have been arrested for alleged involvement in a people-smuggling operation.

The five soldiers were arrested this morning in the company of 41 asylum seekers, believed to be from Iran and Syria.

It is believed the soldiers, who were in uniform, were escorting the group to a beach in south-west Java where they were set to board a boat to Australia.

The latest arrests come as another five Indonesian soldiers await trial over alleged involvement in organising an asylum seeker boat that sank on its way to Australia last year.

As many as 200 people drowned when the overloaded boat, packed with about 250 asylum seekers, sank off the coast of East Java.

Just 49 people survived the tragedy, which occurred in rough monsoonal seas on December 17.

Indonesian authorities said the asylum seekers detained today are believed to include a number of people from Syria, which has been racked by 16 months of fighting between rebel forces and the Government of President Bashar al-Assad.