Human smugglers trying to "exploit" the Iranian market have led to a sharp rise in the number of Iranians caught trying to enter Australia illegally, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said Monday.
He told a Tehran press conference that Australia has seen a dramatic increase in the number of Iranians detained after his government's efforts to block illegals coming from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The smugglers are in what I call market development, trying to find new groups of people who might have enough money to keep their businesses going," he said.
"They are now exploiting Iranians, which they weren't doing before," he said.
He said he had held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi and Interior Minister Abdol-Vahed Mussavi-Lari on the "ongoing" cooperation between the two countries on curbing illegal immigrants.
Iran has recently announced steps to crackdown on human smuggling and this week agreed a major cooperation agreement with Italy aimed at stemming the flow of Iranian illegals into Europe -- TEHRAN (AFP)
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