CANBERRA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Syrian and Iraqi refugees bookmarked for resettlement in Australia have been refused entry on grounds of national security, it was revealed on Thursday, after security networks discovered their names were on an international watch list.
Overnight, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull revealed that around 10,000 of the 12,000 refugees fleeing war in the Middle East had been successfully resettled in Australia, but a senior security source told News Corp that more than 500 potential refugees had been refused entry for their involvement in "criminal and other" activities.
The source said the refugees were refused entry after the Five Eyes intelligence network alerted Australian authorities.
"All matches identified were rigorously examined and where potential risks were identified these individuals were not granted a visa to Australia," the source told News Corp.
"Of the biometric checks approximately 500 were a preliminary adverse match, that is, the person's name was recorded on a watch list."
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