TEN IRISH people have been detained in Sydney for allegedly breaching conditions of their visas.
New South Wales police arrested three males in the south-western Sydney suburb of Fairfield on Thursday afternoon following a tip-off from police in the state of Victoria that a number of Irish people may be in Australia unlawfully and committing offences.
Two of those arrested, aged 38 and 16, were holding cash allegedly earned illegally while in Australia on tourist visas. A police report said they were “suspected to be unlawful non-citizens”. They have been charged with having goods in custody suspected of being unlawfully obtained.
They were granted bail.
The 38-year-old man will appear in a local court on November 2nd and the 16 year old is due to appear before the children’s court on November 3rd. They were issued with bridging visas. The third man arrested is being held in immigration detention.
Police inquiries revealed that several other Irish nationals suspected of visa breaches were staying in a caravan park in the Sydney suburb of Bass Hill. At the caravan site, police arrested two women, aged 27 and 24, and five children aged from 18 months to five years.
The 27-year-old woman was charged with one count of dealing with property suspected to be proceeds of crime and six counts of providing false information to a pawn shop. She was granted conditional bail and will appear in a local court on November 2nd. The women and children were issued with bridging visas.
The last time so many Irish were detained at the same time in Australia was in January 2010, when at least a dozen were deported during an inquiry into immigration fraud. In that case, many of those arrested had acquired second-year working holiday visas for Australia by using fake details. They were arrested returning from trips to Ireland.