People smugglers are organising for more asylum seekers to come to Australia by boat from from Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, a regional terrorism expert has cautioned.

And while the federal government’s hardline policy of sending boats back has disrupted the flow of vessels trying to get to the country, it has not dismantled the criminal networks able to move people across Asia, including to Australia.

More asylum seekers are likely to attempt to travel to Australia from south-east Asia, says an international analyst. Credit:Sharon Tisdale

Professor Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, warned that people-smuggling networks remain active across the region.

“The on-going people smuggling operations are being run out of south-east Asia, notably Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and Malaysia. The boats travel from Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia to Australia,” Professor Gunaratna told Fairfax Media.