Asylum seekers on Nauru accused of prostitution and growing marijuana

ASYLUM seekers on Nauru are embroiled in an appalling prostitution and drug ­scandal that has led to at least six arrests.

Asylum seekers outside the regional processing centre on Nauru. Some of the would-be refugees are embroiled in a prostitution and drug ­scandal which has lead to arrests.

ASYLUM seekers on Nauru are embroiled in an appalling prostitution and drug ­scandal that has led to at least six arrests.

The Courier-Mail can reveal the would-be refugees have been accused of using an illegal teenage prostitute, as well as growing marijuana.

A Tuvaluan woman was arrested and detained in May over allegations she facilitated prostitution for male asylum seekers willing to pay for sex.

Nauruan Police Commissioner Corey Caleb.

One asylum seeker has now been charged with indecent assault of a minor, while four others were arrested and are in custody relating to drug charges.

It believed the asylum seekers were growing and processing marijuana.

Australia bankrolls the regional processing centre, which currently houses 370 people. While taxpayers do not provide asylum seekers with cash, they are given points, which can be traded.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection told The Courier-Mail: “The department is aware of these allegations. These are matters for the Nauru Police Force.”

It is not clear how much it was being sold for and the size of the alleged drug racket.

The Courier-Mail contacted the Nauruan Government and its Brisbane-based public relations firm about the matter but no response had been received at the time of publication.

US officials are vetting the asylum seekers to determine whether they will be eligible for resettlement in the US.

Australian taxpayers pay tens of millions of dollars a year to house, educate and provide medical treatment for the asylum seekers.

It is not the first time asylum seekers on Nauru, who have been repeatedly told they will not be resettled in Australia, have been at the centre of controversy.

Last year, the Nauruan police force took the extraordinary step of slamming asylum seekers and Australian advocates for telling “lies”.

Police Commissioner Corey Caleb said police resources were increasingly being allocated to dealing with conflicts between refugees.

“We would receive around five call-outs every day for disputes between refugees, and these have nothing to do with locals,” Mr Caleb said at the time. “That’s more than the calls we receive daily from the entire Nauruan population.

“Some fight with each other and even within the nationalities there are different groups who have been at war with each other for generations based on religious or cultural grounds.”