Sukabumi, West Java – More than 70 illegal immigrants attempting to make the 236 mile crossing from Indonesia's seaside village of Loji to Australia's Christmas Island were arrested by local police in a Sunday morning raid and ensuing manhunt, police said on Monday.

The immigrants, from Iran and Afghanistan, reportedly left Cisaru, Bogor by bus, arriving in Sukabumi at 5 a.m. Sunday. They allegedly planned to leave Indonesia from nearby Loji and sail to Christmas Island where they would seek asylum, said Adjunct Commissioner Afrizal, chief intelligence officer with the Sukabumi police.

Officers arrested 55 men, women and children in the initial raid, police said. Seventeen others were found hiding in forested and residential areas in the following days. Of the 72 illegal immigrants arrested, 19 were children. They are all being held at the Sukabumi resort police station.

"We plan to hand them over to the immigration office in Sukabumi," Afrizal said. Police are still investigating the case, he added.