Second group of asylum seekers found on property near Beagle Bay in northern Western Australia

A group of 13 men from India and Bangladesh has been discovered on a remote outstation in Pender Bay, about 50km north of Beagle Bay where 30 asylum seekers were found Friday.

A second group of asylum seekers has been found in northern WA.

A second group of asylum seekers has turned up at a remote outstation north of the Aboriginal community of Beagle Bay where a group of about 30 men was taken into custody by border force authorities on Friday, prompting concerns that more than one asylum boat has landed in the area in recent days and that some arrivals may still be missing or lost.

The undetected group of 13 men walked into the campsite of Pender Bay on Western Australia’s remote Dampier Peninsula on Friday afternoon. They were bailed up by the owners’ dogs. Pender Bay is about 51km by road north of Beagle Bay where the first group was given shade and water by locals at about 10am on Friday. The second group spent two hours at the camp with its Aboriginal occupants, who tried to calm them and assure them they were safe. WA Police arrived late in the afternoon.

This means the total number of asylum seekers discovered on WA’s north coast on Friday is not approximately 30 as first thought but more than 40.

Like the men found earlier near the old church mission of Beagle Bay, the second group of asylum seekers had cuts and other injuries from scrambling on rocks and walking in mangroves. An Aboriginal man at the camp tended to their wounds and encouraged the men not to go back into the bush, The Australian has learned.

The Australian has confirmed the second group comprised 12 Bangladeshi men and one Indian man. This second group has not been acknowledged publicly by the Australian Border Force, WA Police or the Prime Minsiter. They appeared to have no knowledge of the asylum seekers at Beagle Bay who had been picked up earlier in the day. This has prompted concerns inside Border Force that there may have been more than one asylum boat arrival on the Dampier Peninsula in recent days.

The group of 13 was shown news reports on an iPhone of the group already at Beagle Bay and seemed surprised, The Australian has been told.

They told WA Police they were trying to get to Sydney.

An Aboriginal man at the camp tended to the wounds of the asylum seekers.

Australian Border Force and WA Police did not provide information when The Australian asked on Friday night if any asylum seekers were believed to be unaccounted for in the areas.

However, The Australian has been told the Border Force operation on the peninsula is ongoing.

The first group of men detected on Friday – the men taken into Beagle Bay in the morning – were Pakistani and Bangladeshi, according to one man in the group who spoke a little English.

The recent deliveries of asylum seekers to the Australian mainland is a concerning development for the Albanese government.

In previous years, smuggling ventures sailed deliberately towards Australian Navy or Border Force vessels or aimed for Christmas Island or Ashmore Reef where they knew they would be intercepted. Australian authorities burned the smuggling boat and took the asylum seekers into detention where they either made claims for asylum or were identified as crew and prosecuted. If the crew were clearly minors, they were usually sent home to Indonesia.

However, in November a people smuggling venture dropped a group of asylum seekers including Pakistanis at a remote stretch of Kimberley coast between Derby and Kununurra and the boat vanished undetected. The arrivals presented themselves at the Truscott air base.

Border Force authorities suspect ventures have become more sophisticated as it has become obvious that people intercepted at sea are swiftly returned to their country of origin. Some do not even make landfall and are taken home to Sri Lanka, Indonesia or Vietnam on ABF vessels.

The group that arrived at Truscott Air Base in November was on the mainland for several days then flown to Nauru.

Police are investigating signs on the Dampier Peninsula of the recent arrivals. They are trying to confirm beyond doubt that everyone is accounted for. So far, they have found plastic bags of clothes near a possible landing site and food wrappers.

This includes opened and emptied packets of Beng Beng, a crispy wafer snack popular in Indonesia and Date Crown dates distributed from the United Arab Emirates.

The arrivals on the Dampier Peninsula are at least the 11th people smuggling venture to sail close to or inside Australian waters since May 2022, the month the Albansese government was elected.