On 8 June 2012, the Australian Attorney General’s Office issued a press release on the release of 4 minor Indonesian sailors from their detention in Australia.
The release of two out of the four sailors from the immigration detention was based on the consideration that they were still under-age when they were detained by the Australian officials.
The decision to release them was made after the Indonesian Government presented evidences proving those sailors were indeed under-age when they were detained while entering the Australian territory.
Meanwhile, the other two Indonesian sailors had undergone a review by the Australian Attorney General’s Office, and they had been released earlier from their detention time.
Based on the records from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from the period of 2008 until 8 June 2012, there have been 348 Indonesian sailors that have been released from detention by the Australian Government. Among them, 200 were under-age sailors, and 148 were adult sailors.