Australian navy ship carries asylum seekers back to Vietnam - report

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia is sending a group of asylum seekers back to Vietnam on a navy ship after they were apparently intercepted at sea, an Australian newspaper reported on Friday. The Australian supply ship HMAS Choules was anchored off the Vietnamese coast as part of the operation to hand back nearly 50 asylum seekers, the West Australian newspaper reported. It did not give any source for the information. Australia has been criticised at home and abroad for its tough immigration policies, including sending asylum seekers to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, where they face long periods of detention. The Vietnamese are thought to have been intercepted this month by customs and navy vessels north of Australia, according to the report, which said it was not clear if the asylum seekers had already been handed over to authorities in Vietnam. An official with Australia's immigration department said the government did not comment on operational matters. Vietnam's foreign ministry had no immediate comment. In September, Cambodia agreed to resettle potentially hundreds of refugees held at the Australian detention centre in Nauru in exchange for aid, in an agreement that applied only to refugees willing to go voluntarily. But despite incentives offered by Australia, including large cash payments, only a handful have agreed to go, a non-governmental organisation told Reuters on Friday. (Reporting by Melanie Burton; Additional reporting by Hanoi bureau; Editing by Alan Raybould)