The Cocos Islands cluster lies a little under halfway between Australia and Sri Lanka.

THE remote Cocos Islands are being targeted as an asylum destination, with Sri Lanka’s top envoy to Australia confirming his government stopped a boat carrying 113 people departing the Indian Ocean nation.

Three boats have arrived in the past weeks carrying 135 asylum seekers to the small Cocos Islands cluster, which lies a little under halfway between Australia and Sri Lanka.

People-smuggling syndicates have not historically targeted the Cocos Islands, preferring to send boats to Australian territory closer to Indonesia – either Christmas Island, south of Java, or Ashmore Reef off West Timor.

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Sri Lankan envoy Thisara Samarasinghe: ‘It is a very international racket.’

Two boats were intercepted in waters off Christmas Island yesterday with 150 people on board.

But the prospect of a third people-smuggling passage will stretch Australia’s border patrols, already struggling with a surge of arrivals. The distance from Ashmore Reef to the Cocos Islands is more than 4000 kilometres, a massive expanse of sea for navy and other services to patrol.

Until the past month, just two boats had attempted the nearly 3000-kilometre journey from Sri Lanka to the Cocos, one in 2011 and one in 2010 that had to be rescued when it got into distress.

Sri Lanka’s high commissioner in Canberra, Thisara Samarasinghe, told the Herald security services in his country had stopped 113 people on a boat three weeks ago, bound for Australia.

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