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SYDNEY, Dec 16: A Pakistani who smuggled two boatloads of asylum seekers to Australia was on Thursday sentenced to 12 years in jail by a court in Perth.
Hasan Ayoub, 34, masterminded an operation in which a total of 400 mostly Middle Eastern asylum seekers were shipped from Indonesia to the Pacific Ocean territory of Christmas Island in 2001.
Judge Peter Nisbet said Ayoub had shown no remorse for his crimes. "You sent the matter to trial gambling that, because of the efforts you made to disguise your appearance, the identification evidence against you would not be strong enough to secure your conviction," he said. -dpa
