Detention centers riots cost Australia more than 9 mln USD

Riots at the Australian immigration detention centers are estimated to have caused losses of about 9 million AU dollars (9.45 million U.S. dollars) in damage, the Australian Immigration Department said on Wednesday.

A number of buildings were destroyed during violent protests at the Christmas Island and Villawood centers in earlier 2011.

Department spokeswoman Fiona Lynch-Magor told a Senate hearing Serco, the company that runs the centers, would make an insurance claim for the damage.

The Immigration Department also said there were not enough federal police on Christmas Island to arrest asylum seekers who escaped from the detention center during protests earlier this year.

Department spokeswoman Jackie Wilson told Australian Broadcasting Corporation that it was not possible to arrest the group.

"The numbers of police on the island and the need to secure the airport as a priority did not enable us to have sufficient AFP ( the Australian Federal Police) on the island to do that," she said.

The Opposition said the lack of federal police left the island in a vulnerable position.

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