Asylum seekers' bid to reach Australia thwarted boat with 20 Sri Lankans on board intercepted

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Boatload of 20 asylum seekers sent back home to Sri Lanka on Wednesday
Operation Sovereign Borders officers spotted boat heading towards Australia
Australian navy vessel transported them to Christmas Island detention centre
Group were first asylum seekers in five years to arrive by sea to Christmas Island

By Kylie Stevens For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 12:39 EDT, 29 May 2019 | Updated: 12:43 EDT, 29 May 2019

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A boatload of 20 asylum seekers, including a baby, have returned to Sri Lanka after their vessel was intercepted by Australian authorities.

Operation Sovereign Borders officers spotted the boat heading towards Australia's north-west coast during aerial patrols of the Indian Ocean last week.

An Australian navy vessel transported the group to the recently reopened Christmas Island detention centre, where they were held for several days before being sent home on a government charter jet on Wednesday, The Australian reported.

A boatload of Sri Lankan asylum seekers were transported to the recently reopened Christmas Island detention centre (pictured) before they were sent home on Wednesday

Government sources told the publication no one in the group had a legitimate reason to seek asylum in Australia.

The boatload were the first asylum seekers in five years to arrive by sea to Christmas Island, 1,500 kilometres north west of Australia's mainland, where they underwent health and security checks.

It's understood they left Sri Lanka earlier this month, just weeks after the devastating Easter terror attacks on churches and hotels that killed more than 250 people across the country.

The Department of Home Affairs confirmed it intercepted a people smuggling voyage.

'Australian authorities recently intercepted an attempted illegal people smuggling venture from Sri Lanka,' a spokesman told the Sydney Morning Herald.

'Twenty people aboard the vessel have been returned to Sri Lanka after attempting the dangerous and illegal voyage.'

An Australian navy vessel transported the asylum seekers to Christmas Island (stock photo)

Daily Mail Australia contacted Australian Border Force and the Department of Home Affairs for further comment.

Operation Sovereign Borders is a border protection operation set by the Coalition Government in 2013 led by the Australian Defence Force aimed at stopping asylum seekers from reaching Australia's shores.

Around 186 Sri Lankan men, women and children from 10 people-smuggling ventures who have been returned to Sri Lanka since 2013.

More than 50,000 asylum-seekers made it to Australia by boat under the previous Labor government, while an estimated 1,200 drowned while Labor were in government during 2007-2013.

A group of 17 Vietnamese nationals made it as far as the Daintree rainforest in far north Queensland last August before they were flown to Christmas Island before being sent home.

Operation Sovereign Borders officers spotted the boat heading towards Australia's north-west coast during patrols of the Indian Ocean last week (stock photo)

Christmas Island detention centre was reopened earlier this year to guard against a feared influx of asylum-seeker boats.

'My job now is to ensure that the boats don't come,' Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at the time.

'My job now is to do everything within my power, and in the power of the government, to ensure that what the parliament has done to weaken our borders does not result in boats coming to Australia.'

The prime minister spent $185 million reopening the detention centre to accommodate refugees and asylum-seekers on Nauru and Manus Island found to need medical assessments in Australia.

It's understood no medical transferees have yet been taken to the facility.

The recent budget revealed the government would try to repeal the laws and close the centre by July.