Australia defends decision to return "people smugglers" back to Sri Lanka

The Australian federal government has defended its decision to send four men suspected of being involved in a people smuggling venture back to Sri Lanka.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said on Friday that upon analysis, the men that were seized in a boat off the Cocos Islands last month were not refugees but rather victims of a people smuggling ring.

He said that returning the men back to their native Sri Lanka sent a "very strong message to the people smugglers" and those that empower smugglers by paying them to get on boats.

"These are organized criminal syndicates that are involved in trying to leverage money out of people to get them onto boats, but those people are wasting their money, they're wasting their time and they're wasting their effort," he said. "They will not be coming to Australia."

The four captured on the boat were interviewed about their intentions by border security officers, but handed over to Sri Lankan authorities the next day.

Hugh de Kretser from the Human Rights Law Center claimed the government's screening process was not a legitimate one. "People need to be brought to Australia and properly processed on land with access to proper legal advice," he said.

The United Nations refugee agency was also critical about Australia's policy of processing refugee claims at sea.

But Dutton said that the government was working legally and " within..international law obligations".

The Australian government recently released statistics that showed 15 boats holding more than 400 people had been refused entry into Australia since "Operation Sovereign Borders" came into effect in September 2013. Endi