Asylum 'kids' in last-gasp bid for smokes | The Australian
ASYLUM-SEEKERS claiming to be minors among the group spared deportation this week are so frustrated by a ban on smoking they are considering changing their stories to say they are adults.
Some of the 57 "unaccompanied minors" are addicted to smoking and increasingly irritated by a ban on cigarettes within their detention compound on Christmas Island, sources say.
Asylum-seeker adults are allowed to smoke by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship but this is not the case for the unaccompanied minors, with the department applying Australian laws to the group.
The source, who does not want to be named, said there were some among the males who were clearly children but others who were obviously over 18.