00:00The four men who were found on Croker Island were discovered by Aboriginal rangers who
00:06were patrolling the coastline.
00:08Those rangers said that they saw a vessel on Sunday evening on the northwest side of
00:13the island.
00:14But the men weren't found until Monday and the NLC didn't confirm their discovery to
00:18the ABC until today.
00:20The information has been very limited.
00:22We went to the Australian Border Force who have declined to comment at this stage.
00:27We also went to NT Police who say that the matter has been deferred to the Australian
00:31Border Force.
00:32We don't yet know where these men have come from and whether they were just here fishing
00:37or whether they were asylum seekers trying to enter Australia.
00:41What we do know is what the NLC have told us.
00:43They say that the men told traditional owners on the island that they had paid someone money
00:49to bring them to Australia on the boat.
00:51They also told traditional owners that they were exhausted and suffering from the effects
00:56of the extreme heatwave that we have here in the Northern Territory at the moment.
01:00NT politician Manuel Brown, whose electorate covers Croker Island, has described the men
01:06as asylum seekers, but we are still waiting on confirmation of that.
01:10To give you a bit more information about where they were found, Croker Island is an extremely
01:14remote part of the Northern Territory.
01:17It's about 250 kilometres northeast of where I am here in Darwin.
01:23It's only accessible by sea and it's a very small community, so that's making the information
01:29between us and the island quite difficult.
01:32The NLC have reported, though, across the Top End, they've seen an influx of foreign
01:37vessels in their waters.
01:39Just last week, they reported a vessel was hiding in the mangroves in the Northern Territory
01:44community of Maningrida.
01:46The week before that, a community in Warrawee reported that there was a boat camping out
01:52on their beach and that their cars had been broken into when their fuel was stolen.
01:57And in this incident on Croker Island, two sharks have reportedly washed up, their carcasses
02:02have washed up on the shores of the beach with their tails and their fins missing.
02:07So this influx of foreign vessels in Top End waters has raised concerns about the Territory
02:13Sustainable Fishing Management Plans, about border security and also about community safety.
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