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A group of six Chinese nationals who police say travelled to Australia by boat have been detained after they were discovered in a remote community at the northern tip of Western Australia.
An off-duty police officer located two men 12km north of Kalumburu on Monday, Western Australia Police said in a statement.
“It was established the men had arrived in Australia via an unknown vessel, as part of a group,” the statement said.
“Police conducted a search for the remaining group members and located four additional men in the Kalumburu area on Tuesday.”
Western Australia Police Minister Reece Whitby on Thursday said the men were Chinese nationals and the Australian Border Force had taken over the investigation.
SBS News understands the individuals have been detained by the ABF. The ABF said it would not comment on operational matters.
The Western Australia Police reported that the individuals were transported to the Kalumburu Multi-Functional Police Facility for a health evaluation.
Kalumburu is located more than 3,000km from Perth, and has a population of 388, according to 2021 Census data.
It follows a similar incident in the north of Western Australia in February last year, in which a group of 20 men, who said they were from Pakistan and Bangladesh, were found in a remote Indigenous community at Beagle Bay.
In November 2023, a dozen Pakistani asylum seekers, believed to have travelled by boat from Indonesia, arrived on a remote stretch of Western Australia’s coastline in the Kimberley region.
They were taken to Nauru by the Australian Border Force.
