Doubts asylum policy will work
FIRST ON 7: One of the biggest issues leading up to the September 7 election will be how to stop asylum seekers risking their lives to reach Australia.
7News has travelled to Indonesia, tracking down some notorious people smugglers, and finding plenty of doubt that Labor's latest policy will work.
Deep inside an Indonesian police station, five men hide their faces - they are believed to be the people smugglers responsible for 20 deaths.
7News has obtained the first pictures of the men police say organised the boat that sank off Indonesia on July 23.
"They must be responsible for those who die in the sea," Cianjur city police chief Dedy Kusuma Bakti said.
For the young police chief, it is personal; "A life is a life, a human is a human, this is a serious thing. Serious."
He was there to direct the rescue operation as his officers jumped aboard fishing boats in dangerous seas to save 189 lives. They also retrieved the bodies.
He says the experience made his officers determined to catch those responsible. But these men are believed to be just part of a lucrative industry that employs hundreds across this region.
The smugglers work as a sophisticated pyramid operation with a co-ordinator, a guide, a transport provider and a logistics man. But in this case, they're still searching for the big boss.
In the asylum seeker settlements south of Jakarta, a seat on a boat can be bought for about $5000.
"Each race has their own smugglers, it's really fantastic. Arab smugglers, Sri Lankan smugglers, Iranian smugglers," Ali Bahrami said.
We showed him one of the newspaper advertisements placed by the Australian Government. He said it won't stop people getting on boats.
"No, no, no the new law will not. Because I told you. People don't believe in that."
Indonesian Police are relying on the power of their own law.
"Don't try this in Cianjur because we will find them. We will find them," Dedy Kusuma Bakti said.
