SARAH FERGUSON: In the charged debate over asylum seekers, there is one thing both sides of politics agree on, the criminal nature of people smuggling.

As boats of asylum-seekers continue to arrive in Australia we go inside that criminal world.

The Indonesian underworld where the people smuggling industry flourishes.

ABBAS AL KURDI (TRANSLATION): The boat has air-conditioning and it’s got electricity too. But you can’t take a mobile phone with you. We’ve got satellite GPS.

ABDUL KHOZER (TRANSLATION): It’s seven per person.

HUSSAIN NASIR: 7,000 ($US)?

ABDUL KHOZER: Yes. Because the price is increasing every day.

SARAH FERGUSON: We see the smugglers competing for business and reveal the identity of one smuggler imprisoned in Australia in 2001, now back in Indonesia and back in business.

ABDUL KADEM (TRANSLATION): From each one of them I want a photo, a copy of their passport and US$2000.

SARAH FERGUSON: Australia spends millions of dollars and deploys Federal Police in Indonesia to stop the boats from leaving.

But their efforts are subverted by corrupt military and police officers including this army colonel caught by our secret cameras.

COLONEL HOTMAN (TRANSLATION): I’d have to get at least five billion (rupiah).

SARAH FERGUSON: And we expose corruption inside Indonesia’s Immigration system where senior officials take bribes to release asylum seekers from detention centres built and paid for by Australia.

MISS FLORA (TRANSLATION): The Director is signing, the Director of immigration.

DR MARTY NATALEGAWA, INDONESIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I am trying not to look upset, but I'm I think it's quite fair to say it's not a happy situation.

SARAH FERGUSON: Our guide into this underworld is Iraqi refugee Hussain Nasir wearing a hidden camera into some of the most dangerous corners of Indonesian society.

Twice cheated by smugglers himself, Nasir is determined to expose the smugglers and shut down the cartels.

HUSSAIN NASIR: I must be destroy these bad people and the people behind them.

SARAH FERGUSON: Tonight on Four Corners, Smuggler’s Paradise, how corruption subverts Australia’s border security.

Hussain Nassir and his family are refugees from Iraq, recognised by the UNHCR. They’ve been in Indonesia for three years, waiting for a country like Australia to offer them resettlement.

HUSSAIN NASIR: I want all the Australian people they know, what is the right and what serious situation in this cemetery of refugees.

SARAH FERGUSON: Today Hussain has brought his wife Noora and their four children to the coast in Lombok to make an important decision.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): Would you get on a boat, or are you scared?

SARAH FERGUSON: For three years they’ve watched as thousands of asylum seekers have passed through Indonesia on their way to Australia.

HUSSAIN NASIR: These people right now you know, when they come in by the boat, they stolen our place and take it our place and the place of my wife and my children. So we waiting here, this right? You take a lot of the people from the sea and you keep us, for what? So this not right.

SARAH FERGUSON: Reluctantly Hussain and Noora have decided to join them and go by boat.

HUSSAIN NASIR: If we stay here, we will be die slowly. So we are die already. If we can get this choice by boat, we can arrive to Australia, that’s a great thing for us.

SARAH FERGUSON: The Nasir family live in a refugee compound in Lombok.

They fled from Iraq on the advice of the US military. Hussain worked with the US Special Forces for 18 months after the invasion of Iraq.

In a briefing to Four Corners, US Special Forces said Hussain’s work was invaluable; they trusted him with their lives. The US Army gave him this letter as a form of protection when he left.

(Letter from the US Military): His contribution to making Iraq a safe and secure country for his family and the rest of Iraq’s people is invaluable. For his loyalty and bravery, this unit requests and would truly appreciate any assistance that can be provided to Hussein and his family.

SARAH FERGUSON: The family fled to Jordan and then to Indonesia. Now Hussain wants to take on the people smugglers.

HUSSAIN NASIR: Because I hate them and I don't like them, and because I know these people they doing dirty business.

SARAH FERGUSON: Like most refugees in Indonesia, Hussain knows how the smugglers operate. When we met him, he was hoping to use that knowledge to get his family out.

Now he had the chance, at the same time, to expose the smugglers and their sordid trade.

HUSSAIN NASIR: I hope. This is my dream. This is my dream and dream to many good people to stop these people.

SARAH FERGUSON: Jwanda, a poor quarter of Jakarta. Hussain has come to the capital to work on his plan to get his family to Australia.

He’s staying with Zulfikah, who is also looking for a boat.

ZULFIKAH: All my friends go to Australia already they arrive success, so they have money, but me and staying here I don't have money, so I'm waiting for money. If I get money, I will go, believe me.

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain doesn’t have the money to pay a people smuggler. He’s relying on someone else to pay his passage.

In Jakarta he knows a group of Afghan refugees being held in detention. They’ve promised to pay for him and his family if he can get them released.

After three years living on his wits, he knows where to go for help.

(Hussain Nasir calls someone on the phone)

HUSSAIN NASIR (on phone): Hello Ibu.

SARAH FERGUSON: He has the number of an intermediary who claims she can organise their release in return for a bribe.

HUSSAIN NASIR (on phone): So Ibu about my friend there. How about the money? How, how, how come we pay all the money or what the deal exactly?

SARAH FERGUSON: The intermediary has her office here in Tanah Abang , one of the seediest areas of Jakarta, famous for its pickpockets and prostitutes.

Hidden away here is the Trimitra Tour and Travel Company, a secret hub for the smuggling trade. Hussain has an appointment with a woman he knows only as ‘Miss Flora’. He is wearing a hidden camera.

HUSSAIN NASIR: So now I want to know exactly about the price, some discount, and also how many days can be let my friends outside?

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain wants to reduce the cost of the bribes to get his friends out of detention.

MISS FLORA (TRANSLATION): Actually the price is, because we have to pay 1500 ($US) for the Immigration, so it’s just left 300. And from that 300 we have to give, we have to give commission, okay, so the budget is really, really small.

SARAH FERGUSON: The bribe is paid to corrupt officials in the Indonesian Department of Immigration.

MISS FLORA (TRANSLATION): Officers from Immigration, two officers will pick and one driver. We have to arrange two cars. Not one car. So that is why the price is difficult to reduce again, really.

SARAH FERGUSON: As part of her sales pitch to Hussain, Miss Flora is keen to boast of her recent successes.

MISS FLORA (TRANSLATION): I bring many, many people you know. Last week, 8th February, I released five people from Tanjung Pinang. End of this month I will release from Medan - eight people.

SARAH FERGUSON: She’s talking about getting detainees out of Tanjung Pinang, Indonesia’s newest, high security detention centre. The Australian Government paid $8 million to build it.

MANUEL JORDAO, UNHCR REPRESENTATIVE, JAKARTA: At the end or during 2009 the number of people coming to Indonesia increased by by 800 percent. So suddenly, ah, Indonesia was, ah, confronted with the fact that instead of having a few hundred people coming to this country for various reasons, suddenly the numbers multiplied by thousands.

SARAH FERGUSON: Indonesia’s new policy, with Australia’s help, is to put more asylum seekers in detention.

DR MARTY NATELEGAWA, INDONESIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER: Short of Australia being willing to have such facilities in its own, its own soil, which apparently not, then I guess the next best thing is to be seen to be in a joint endeavour to have such facilities built.

SARAH FERGUSON: But it’s created a new market in corruption. While Australia helps pay to keep refugees in detention, Indonesian officials take bribes to let them out.

MISS FLORA(TRANSLATION): If I release people I release them legally. Legally, and the director is signing, the Director of Immigration. So we bring them to Jakarta.

SARAH FERGUSON: Miss Flora explains that she will wait at the Department of Immigration while the bribe money is collected from the detainees.

MISS FLORA (TRANSLATION): I’m waiting in Kuningan in Immigration, okay. So I cannot be, so I will send someone to collect the money in Kalideres. After Kalideres we take them to Kuningan. After Kuningan we give papers to sign, they are free.

SARAH FERGUSON: This is Kalideres, the detention centre where Hussain’s friends the Afghans are being held. The Australian Government recently paid to upgrade the security.

Hussain has come to tell his friends about Miss Flora’s deal. Hussain knew these men in Lombok before they were arrested on their way to a boat. They’ve been in detention ever since.

Through the Afghans, he’s got a contact for a smuggler Mustapha Syukar who is proposing to take them to Australia. It’s his first opportunity to get a smuggler on film.

That evening Hussain gets a call from Mustapha.

The reception on his cheap mobile only works at the window. The smuggler arranges a meeting with Hussain, summoning him to in the town of Bogor, an hour’s drive from Jakarta.

The meeting place is a restaurant on the edge of town. Mustapha lays out the details of his smuggling operation, including the boat.

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): We figure that for 100 people we need 26 metres.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): 26 metres, is that big enough?

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): Yes it’s enough. But we have to fix it, just fix the interior. That will cost about 25 million (rupiah).

SARAH FERGUSON: The plan is for the boat to leave from Kupang in West Timor, a notorious hub for smugglers. Mustapha exaggerates its proximity to Australia.

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): It’s better from Kupang, it’s only six hours.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): Six hours from Kupang to Australia?

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): Yes. You can see Ashmore Reef from there.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): Ashmore?

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): Yeah.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): Ashmore, no you can’t.

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): Yes, you can.

SARAH FERGUSON: The smuggler calls a contact in the Kupang police who’ll make sure the passengers aren’t arrested on their way to the boat.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): Who takes responsibility if we get caught?

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): Relax. This isn’t just anybody, He’s in the forces.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): An officer, police officer?

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): Yes, the one I was talking to.

SARAH FERGUSON: The driver of the boat isn’t afraid of getting caught in Australia. He regards imprisonment there as a luxury.

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): He’s been in custody three times.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): In Australia?

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): Yes. You know what he told me? He told me, 'I don’t mind, it’s great, they give you money there, it’s great'.

SARAH FERGUSON: The smuggler says he’s ready to go at any time.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): When can we make a deal?

MUSTAPHA (TRANSLATION): Whenever you like. Now? (Looks at his watch) Now it is the 25th. At the end of this month?

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain now wants to go directly to the corrupt officials in immigration.

He’s made contact with a senior official who he’s been told takes bribes to release asylum seekers from detention.

(To Hussain Nasir): Do you expect him today to actually talk about money directly with you?

HUSSAIN NASIR: Yeah must be.

SARAH FERGUSON: The meeting is at Immigration Headquarters.

(To Hussain Nasir): Are you nervous about today at all?

HUSSAIN NASIR: Little bit.

SARAH FERGUSON: Once again, Hussain takes a miniature camera hidden in a pen, in his jacket pocket.

Indonesia’s Department of Immigration. Hussain is meeting is with General Muchdor, the director of Immigration Enforcement.

The same General Muchdor who signed the document Miss Flora had flourished earlier, authorising the release of five Afghans from Tanjung Pinang.

As Hussain waited outside Muchdor’s office on the third floor, a guard became suspicious. He searched Hussain and found the camera and its data key containing film already recorded in the building.

HUSSAIN NASIR: Yeah, actually he take the, he took the camera from me and, ah, he put the camera, the computer and, so yeah, he talked to me. He say that I can put you in jail long time here.

SARAH FERGUSON: According to Hussain the guard immediately demanded a large bribe in US dollars to let him go. Thinking quickly, Hussain asked to go the ground floor to wait for someone to deliver the money.

HUSSAIN NASIR: I just looking in lobby from where up or down, from behind the building. Also I looking for the camera. Not easy time for me until the adan...

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain heard the call to prayer. He knew it was his best chance.

HUSSAIN NASIR: Actually that good time because all of them would be lunchtime and all of them, most of them they would be go to pray. I go direct and ran direct to the street. I open the gate of the taxi, when the taxi move and I send SMS to you.

SARAH FERGUSON: He switched quickly from the taxi to a motorbike.

HUSSAIN NASIR: I used the...

SARAH FERGUSON: Helmet?

HUSSAIN NASIR: Helmet, yeah and escaped.

SARAH FERGUSON: We went to meet up with Hussain, holed up in a tiny hotel room, hidden away in the back streets of Jakarta. Given his difficult circumstances, we asked if he would consider helping the smugglers to save himself.

(To Hussain Nasir): Would you consider helping or working with or becoming a smuggler to get yourself out?

HUSSAIN NASIR: No! How come? I hate these people and I follow these people all this time. How come I work or help them? No.

SARAH FERGUSON: The acting head of the Indonesian Immigration department is Muhammad Indra. Indra says he is determined to stamp out corruption in the department.

MUHAMMAD INDRA, ACTING DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF IMMIGRATION: I heard, yeah, some official involved. But I try to find the data, but so far I've not received the data yet from any anybody.

SARAH FERGUSON: Indra had already heard there were suspicions about General Muchdor.

(To Muhammad Indra): We understand that Mr Muchdor is involved in corruption. Have you heard that yourself?

MUHAMMAD INDRA: I let us heard from the new director, Mr Hussein.

SARAH FERGUSON: And did Mr Hussein give you evidence about Mr Muchdor’s corruption?

MUHAMMAD INDRA: We don't, we don't have. If you can give the evidence, of course, I'll take action about the, but Mr Muchdor already retire right now.

SARAH FERGUSON: General Muchdor had retired soon after Hussain’s visit.

DR MARTY NATALEGAWA: Corruption, how, how concerned we are? Very concerned, not only vis a vie in institutions such as the police, the armed forces or any other government institutions, state institutions, not only vis a vie people smuggling, but on any subject matter, because we have made, the Indonesian government has made the fight against corruption in all aspects of life as a priority issue.

SARAH FERGUSON: When we saw Hussain again he had moved his family to a different location. He and Noora and the four children were living in a small house in a town an hour from Jakarta.

The family’s circumstances had also changed. The Australian Government had accepted their case from the UNHCR to be considered for re-settlement.

Hussain was waiting for Australia’s decision, no longer intending to put his family on a smuggler’s boat. But he was also determined to finish what he’d started, exposing the smuggler’s trade.

HUSSAIN NASIR: I want show the people ah, all the things under the table. There are many things.

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain’s next moves would expose some of the biggest people smugglers in Indonesia. He’s juggling calls from smugglers and their agents.

HUSSAIN NASIR (on phone): So he agree Pak Gatot agree about the $3000? I am on my way right now to Jakarta.

(Buskers singing)

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain is headed back to Jakarta, where he’s set up a series of meetings with smugglers, claiming to be looking for a boat for his family.

The first meeting is at a cheap hotel, the Feodora, in West Jakarta. Hussain is meeting a Kuwaiti born smuggler called Abdul Khozer. Hussain’s pen camera is in his top pocket

ABDUL KHOZER (TRANSLATION): I have people who are now on their third day at sea, and a group who left earlier and arrived a week ago.

SARAH FERGUSON: According to Abdul Khozer the cost of trips to Australia is getting more expensive.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): How much is it per person?

ABDUL KHOZER (TRANSLATION): It’s seven per person.

HUSSAIN NASIR: 7,000 ($US).

ABDUL KHOZER: Yes. Because the price is increasing every day.

SARAH FERGUSON: The smuggler’s next two trips are ready to go. He won’t say exactly where from.

ABDUL KHOZER (TRANSLATION): We drop you off at the airport here, you fly out and we’ll meet you there.

HUSSAIN NASIR: Someone waits for us? Okay, and from that island to Australia, how many days?

ABDUL KHOZER: We go to Ashmore.

HUSSAIN NASIR: To Ashmore.

ABDUL KHOZER: Yes. We don’t go to Christmas. Abu Muhammad used to send to Christmas, but he stopped completely. He got orders to stop.

HUSSAIN NASIR: Really?

ABDUL KHOZER: Yes. From the police.

SARAH FERGUSON: The smuggler tells Hussain exactly what to expect when they arrive in Australian waters.

ABDUL KHOZER (TRANSLATION): They take everyone off the boat, including the crew, and blow it up before your eyes. At the camp you stay three months, it’s routine, three months. The father of a family might get out in a month.

SARAH FERGUSON: Abdul Khozer has refugee status from the UNHCR and advises Hussain how to get it.

ABDUL KHOZER (TRANSLATION): Do you have a story, have you come up with a story?

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): What do we say?

ABDUL KHOZER (TRANSLATION): For example, if one of their five conditions applies to you, then the UN accepts you. One of them is to do with tribes, our Iraqi tribes and the fighting and killing. That’s one, tribes. A second one is religion.

SARAH FERGUSON: Abdul Khozer not only has refugee status but like Hussain he is being considered for resettlement by the Australian Government.

HUSSAIN NASIR: He accept by UNHCR and he waiting for interview from Australian embassy. I am worried about all bad people get settlement to go Australia, and that’s not right.

MARTY NATALEGAWA: If that’s the case we really must get to the bottom of it because we must ensure you know the credibility of the UNHCR is as we all believe it is.

SARAH FERGUSON: This apartment building in Jakarta is used by smugglers to house passengers on their way to the boats.

Hussain is meeting an Iraqi smuggler Rahim Al Jenabi. Al Jenabi claims to have spent time in Australia.

RAHIM AL JENABI (TRANSLATION): I had a year in Syria, eight years in Iran, two in Australia and eight here.

SARAH FERGUSON: The meeting moves to a nearby restaurant.

Hussain secures his hidden camera in the bathroom before joining the smuggler and his assistants at their table.

RAHIM AL JENABI (TRANSLATION): Boudi’s got the money. The boat money, 250, is in his hands already.

SARAH FERGUSON: Rahim Al Jenabi has refugee status from the UNHCR and he too is being considered for settlement in Australia.

Like most refugees in Indonesia, Al Jenabi’s living expenses are paid for by the Australian Government through the International Organisation for Migration.

At the same time, Al Jenabi claims he pays thousands of dollars in bribes to corrupt military officers.

RAHIM AL JENABI (TRANSLATION): We gave them 20 ($US20,000) as a deposit, then they wanted money for the high ranking officer, the general, so then we gave them 20 more.

SARAH FERGUSON: The United Nations High Commission for Refugees makes the decision on refugee status for all the asylum seekers in Indonesia, and recommends cases to Australia for resettlement. This year the Australian Government quietly increased the number of refugees it takes from Indonesia.

MANUEL JORDAO: There was a recent decision taken by Canberra to upgrade the resettlement quota, the annual resettlement quote from little more than 50 cases or persons per year, to 500. So that's a very significant increase.

SARAH FERGUSON: The UNHCR recommended 550 asylum seekers, out of the 3000 registered in Indonesia, for resettlement in Australia.

(To Manuel Jordao): How much confidence do you have in your processes here?

MANUEL JORDAO: The quality of our procedure? Ah, I think it's improving all the time. We took quite a good number of measures this year.

SARAH FERGUSON: How often do you get it wrong?

MANUEL JORDAO: It's not really, ah, it's not really a main feature, or a main worry in our procedure.

SARAH FERGUSON: With the huge rise in the numbers of asylum seekers coming to Indonesia, the smugglers are competing with each other for a share of the lucrative trade.

Iraqi smuggler Abbas al Kurdi comes to the Feodora with his Indonesian wife to meet Hussain.

Al Kurdi used to have UNHCR refugee status but doesn’t need it since his marriage.

ABBAS AL KURDI (TRANSLATION): The earlier boats didn’t leave under my name because I was registered with the United Nations.

SARAH FERGUSON: Al Kurdi is setting up on his own after working with another smuggler. He’s eager to sell his product.

ABBAS AL KURDI (TRANSLATION): I’m providing them with everything. Food, good food. The boat has air-conditioning and it’s got electricity too. But you can’t take a mobile phone with you. We’ve got satellite GPS. We’ve got the big compasses, everything. The boat is fully equipped.

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain asked Al Kurdi to make a video of the boat to show him.

VOICE OF AL KURDI’S WIFE (TRANSLATION)Isn’t it great. It’s like a cafe isn’t it?

SARAH FERGUSON: Al Kurdi’s wife spruiks the boat’s best features.

(VOICE OF WIFE): And here’s another cabin, let’s check it out. It’s quite big.

ABBAS AL KURDI (TRANSLATION): When you get on the boat you’ll see. It’s not like with other smugglers, where you’re sitting like that and can’t move right or left. I’ll even have a mattress for you to sleep on, to spread your legs out and sleep.

SARAH FERGUSON: Al Kurdi’s wife has delivered him good connections for his smuggling business. Her uncle is the boat’s captain and a police officer.

ABBAS AL KURDI (TRANSLATION): He’s a real captain, a big marine officer. He’s an officer in the Indonesian police, in the military.

HUSSAIN NASIR: I mean, your uncle is the captain of the boat?

WIFE: Yes.

HUSSAIN NASIR: So if we arrested by the police, did he cover us?

WIFE: Not thinking about police because my uncle big, big police. My uncle know about where to go. Here have police, my uncle come here (gestures with hands). Not the route to come to police.

SARAH FERGUSON: The Australian Federal Police spends millions of dollars combating people smuggling in Indonesia, including direct funding to the Indonesian National Police.

Despite some success, Australia’s efforts are constantly undermined by corrupt police and military officers who take bribes from the smugglers to help the boats get away.

Hussain has heard about an Indonesian smuggler with high level military protection. The smuggler is Edi Siregar. Once again he agrees to a meeting at the Hotel Feodora.

EDI SIREGAR (TRANSLATION): Yeah. Okay, I’ll call you later, I’m with someone now. (Hangs up)

SARAH FERGUSON: Siregar has just received some news.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): What?

EDI SIREGAR (TRANSLATION): 40 people just got out of Kupang.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): 40?

EDI SIREGAR (TRANSLATION): Yes. It was Abu Tahir. Do you know Abu Tahir? It was Abu Tahir who took them.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): Have they been arrested?

EDI SIREGAR (TRANSLATION): No, they’ve left for Australia.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): Australia.

SARAH FERGUSON: Siregar is based in the smuggling hub of Kupang. He works with an army colonel called Hotman.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): When you sent the boat to Australia, Edi, was that with Hotman?

EDI SIREGAR (TRANSLATION): Hotman.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): Hotman.

EDI SIREGAR (TRANSLATION): Colonel Hotman is like this (gives thumbs up). He’s a really good guy.

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain wanted to meet Colonel Hotman on his own turf but Hotman refused.

HUSSAIN NASIR: He say no. Should be at this hotel and I think also inside his room. Ah, so he's very careful to meet someone you know.

SARAH FERGUSON: The meeting is at the Hotel Borobodur in Jakarta, a hotel owned by the Indonesian military. Hussain and Edi Siregar meet the colonel in his room on the 15th floor.

Colonel Hotman is planning to send a boat from Kupang to Australia.

COLONEL HOTMAN (TRANSLATION): Let’s talk about the best strategy. This is an opportunity. They’re already in Kupang.

SARAH FERGUSON: He says the bribes he’s taking have to be worth the risk to his career. Tens of thousands of dollars aren’t enough.

COLONEL HOTMAN (TRANSLATION): If I get fired, my family will need to be helped. I’d have to get at least five billion (rupiah). But if I’m being pursued over just 500 million (rupiah), how am I going to feel?

SARAH FERGUSON: Some of Hotman’s potential passengers have to be got out detention first.

COLONEL HOTMAN (TRANSLATION): The key thing is to get past Immigration. Once they’re safely out of Immigration, then we put them on the boat.

SARAH FERGUSON: To secure the boat’s departure from Indonesian waters, Hotman has targeted a poorly paid officer from the sea patrol.

COLONEL HOTMAN (TRANSLATION): He’s a marine and he’s not well-off. He’s got bad morals. His hobbies are karaoke and women. I think if you give him this much (throws cigarette packet on table). Who doesn’t want a car? Who doesn’t want their kids to have a better life? I’ll tell him, 'This is an opportunity'.

SARAH FERGUSON: Hotman tells Hussain the operation needs more protection since Australia put pressure on Indonesia to stop the flow of boats.

COLONEL HOTMAN (TRANSLATION): The Australians have asked Indonesia to stop foreigners, non-Indonesians, entering their country.

HUSSAIN NASIR: Immigrants?

COLONEL HOTMAN (TRANSLATION): Yes, immigrants. So there’s co-operation. Do you understand? (pause). That’s what made us tougher. Actually we’d rather ignore them, but there’s an agreement now so we have to co-operate.

SARAH FERGUSON: It means more people have to be paid off.

COLONEL HOTMAN (TRANSLATION): I took care of the network, beginning with National Intelligence and Strategic Intelligence, Logistic Command. They were my business.

SARAH FERGUSON: When we picked up Hussain after the meeting he was anxious to check the recording.

HUSSAIN NASIR: Edi told me he’s coming, he’s coming so I just open the pen.

SARAH FERGUSON: For Hussain getting the evidence of the military’s corruption is vital.

HUSSAIN NASIR: I want to prove and get stronger things in my hand to show the people who care about us, about our condition and our situation here. So that what I want exactly and they should be stopped this kind of people.

SARAH FERGUSON: For Colonel Hotman the key to his success is bribery.

COLONEL HOTMAN (TRANSLATION): You can fix anything. The important thing is (makes gesture of handing over money), if you know those guys, and you give them even 50,000 (rupiah), they’re really happy. They’ll salute you (salutes). They’re so hard up.

SARAH FERGUSON: The last time Australia experienced such a large influx of boats was between 1999 and 2003.

The Howard government introduced new people smuggling laws to prosecute smugglers who arrived in Australia. This man Abdul Kadem was jailed under those laws and forced to return to Iraq with his family in 2003.

The ABC interviewed him in Baghdad.

(ABC News, 2003)

ABDUL KADEM: We hearing in Australia we can find the freedom the human rights and we can be safety with your family.

SARAH FERGUSON: Kadem pleaded guilty and spent two years in prison in Australia.

REPORTER (ABC News 2003): Kadem admitted helping a boatload of 353 asylum seekers travel from Indonesia to the Ashmore islands in November 1999.

(End of News footage)

SARAH FERGUSON: We found Abdul Kadem once again back in Indonesia after 10 years, back to his old business, organising boats to Australia.

Hussain arranged a meeting with Abdul Kadem at this restaurant in Jakarta again on the pretext of looking for a boat.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): So you were in Australia?

ABDUL KADEM (TRANSLATION): Yeah, five years in Australia. I was humiliated there. I was in solitary confinement in jail and they always put me and my family in the papers and on TV.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): Why?

ABDUL KADEM (TRANSLATION): I helped 36 Iraqis for free.

SARAH FERGUSON: Abdul Kadem is one of the biggest smugglers currently operating in Indonesia.

ABDUL KADEM (TRANSLATION): Don’t worry about it. I swear by the ‘Kaba’, when the boat leaves I swear to God you’ll sit in it like it’s five star. Whatever you want, it’s got it. It has two engines. It’s not bought from here, a boat that goes tac, tac, tac, tac. It’s not a single engine, then the engine stops and the people start wailing. No. The soul of this journey, its success, is in the engine. If the engine stops, it’s all over.

SARAH FERGUSON: Kadem talks frequently on the phone during the meeting. He claims to send three boats a month to Australia.

ABDUL KADEM (on the phone, in English): Hello? Yes? Yes. What? Yeah yeah. Did you check already the money? Come on, finish! Finish now, what are you waiting?

SARAH FERGUSON: In the room is one of his accomplices.

ABDUL KADEM (As he turns back to Hussain): He says the boat is ready. The accomplice will guided the boat out from an island beyond Bali.

(TRANSLATION): He’s my friend. He knows every nook and cranny in that area, metre by metre. I can rely on him and trust him. He’s courageous too.

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain asks if Kadem can also bring asylum-seekers from Malaysia to Indonesia.

ABDUL KADEM (TRANSLATION): The people who are coming from Malaysia…

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): They’re in Malaysia?

ABDUL KADEM: I’ll send someone to them. From every one of them I want a photo, a copy of their passport and US$2000 each. Then in a week or 10 days, I’ll give them a new Iranian passport with an entry permit. It’s official and they can leave the airport with it, and I’ll have an officer waiting for them there at the airport.

SARAH FERGUSON: Kadem wants Hussain to make a firm booking for the next trip.

HUSSAIN NASIR (TRANSLATION): I must be going.

ABDUL KADEM (TRANSLATION): It’s up to you, but let me know about the people today.

HUSSAIN NASIR: I’ll let you kno