News of the incident came as the Indonesian government warned Australia that it was approaching a 'slippery slope' with its boats policy, specifically its recent purchase of large hard-hulled lifeboats to reportedly carry asylum seekers back to Indonesia. Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell and Immigration Minister Scott Morrison. Credit:Andrew Meares This is the third confirmed tow-back of an asylum seeker vessel by the Australian authorities since December 13, despite the objections of Indonesian authorities. The other two boats were returned to Rote Island in far-eastern Indonesia. A local police commissioner from southern Java, who did not want his name or his district published, has told Fairfax Media that villagers plucked a number of asylum seekers from the water a week ago, on January 8, after their boat was turned back by Australia. The officer, quoting one of those on board, Snilul, 25, from Bangladesh, said the navy had "shot into the air just to scare them".

"The boat hadn't reached Australia - they were still at sea but they said they could already see Christmas Island," the officer said. The vessel washed up on the southern coast of Java. "But they said the Australian navy then drove them away and escorted them until they entered Indonesian waters again." The boat had been carrying 25 people from Bangladesh and Myanmar and two Indonesian crew. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa Credit:AFP

"There were four children, the youngest was one-and-a-half years; there were men and women. Nobody died in the sea," the police officer said. The asylum seekers told him they had started off from Medan in North Sumatra and had been on the water for 10 days. After the Australian ship returned them to Indonesian waters, they made their way to the southern coast of Java. "Midday last Wednesday [January 8] people here in the village saw them swimming in the sea, so people helped them and told us [police] later on." Asked if he believed the boat was seaworthy for 25 people, the officer said it had only been built for about 10 people.

Fairfax Media has confirmed with other local officials that the asylum seekers were taken to a hotel in the town of Rangkasbitung. A staff member there said the migrants had now left her hotel, but she did not know where they had gone. Indonesia warns Australia of 'slippery slope' The reports come as Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa sent a subtle warning to Mr Morrison following the Australian government's admission that it had bought lifeboats to carry asylum seekers in "on water" operations. ''Where will this lead to?'' Dr Natalegawa told the ABC. ''Developments of the type that has been reported in the media, namely the facilitation by way of boats, this is the kind of slippery slope that we have identified in the past.''

The Indonesian government strongly objects to the Abbott government's policy of using the navy to "turn back" asylum seekers boats. Dr Natalegawa suggested in his ABC interview that if Australia is helping asylum seekers return to Indonesia, that could be worse than simply turning boats around. ''It's one thing to turn back the actual boats on which they have been travelling," he said. "But [it's] another issue when they are transferred onto another boat and facilitated and told to go in that direction.'' Dr Natalegawa did not say what actions Indonesia would take, but suggested the focus on asylum seekers was straining the Indonesian-Australian relationship. ''To be zeroing in on issues that, in a manner that tends to divide, is not helpful,'' he said 'Missing' boat may have returned to Indonesia

Meanwhile, asylum seeker sources in Cisarua, West Java, said they believed a boat carrying 54 people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Iraq had gone missing after setting off from the town on January 5 or in the early hours of January 6. But reports late on Wednesday night suggested the boat may have returned to Indonesia. "There has been no news, no phone calls or contact by internet, no calls to their homes," the source said earlier in the day. The smuggler was insisting that the boat had reached Christmas Island and that he had received a call from the Indonesian captain. He was demanding payment of money held in trust. Loading In his most recent press conference, Australian Operation Sovereign Borders chief Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell said no boats had reached Australia in the past three weeks.

with Jonathan Swan