SAS staged secret Indonesian raid

AN elite team of Australian soldiers was dropped into ­Indonesian territory on a top secret spy mission, according to a former sailor who gave evidence in a compensation case against the Navy. 
  
Australia's diplomatic relationship with Indonesia has ­already been buffeted over asylum seekers and recent ­reports about Australian spooks eavesdropping on the country's politicians.

Australian defence force ­incursions into Indonesian territorial waters have also caused recent controversy.

Last month, Prime Minister Tony Abbott described Navy boats sailing in to Indonesian waters as "mistakes".

Now former sailor Jarratt Cullen has given sworn evidence he was on board a Navy fuel ship that entered ­Indonesian waters and dropped off SAS soldiers on a spy mission in 1999, at the height of East Timor's independence struggles.

Mr Cullen worked for the Royal Australian Navy from the age of 17, from 1991 until 2002.
He recently went to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal seeking compensation for stress and psychiatric conditions - including schizophrenia - he says were caused by his service.
Tribunal documents ­released last month record Mr Cullen claiming a 1999 incursion by SAS soldiers from the navy oil tanker Success .

"The Success ­entered Indonesian waters under cover of darkness to drop a detachment of SAS military personnel who were tasked with undertaking a covert operation ... The presence of the Success in ­Indonesian waters was not ­detected by Indonesian forces," according to documents posted on AAT's website.

Mr Cullen also told the tribunal the Success was posted to Dili Harbour between September 19 and October 28, 1999, and that he had seen "injured persons and also dead bodies" during shore duty.

Mr Cullen also claims he was assaulted and bullied during his service with the RAN.
"The applicant described many incidents of bullying and beating of lower-ranked seaman by others of a higher rank, which was known in the RAN as 'contact counselling'," the AAT documents state.

However, the AAT declined the compensation claim, and said Mr Cullen was not a ­reliable witness.

A spokeswoman for the ­Department of Defence declined to comment on the "unsubstantiated claims made by the applicant in this case''.

Sumber :  News Australia