CANBERRA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The chief of Australian Federal Police (AFP) has denied any wrongdoing in Thailand's arrest and detainment of refugee footballer Hakeem al-Ariabi.
Addressing the saga for the first time, AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin said that his agency was not told that al-Araibi was a refugee when it alerted Thai authorities of an Interpol warrant for his arrest.
Under Interpol's official policy, an arrest warrant against a refugee from the country they fled is not valid.
Al-Araibi fled Bahrain for Australia in 2014 after he was accused of vandalizing a police station, an incident that he denies any involvement in, and sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.
He returned to his adopted home on Tuesday after a Thai court dismissed Bahrain's request for extradition.
The AFP has been heavily criticized for alerting Thai authorities to al-Araibi's travel plans but Colvin said the agency was never informed of his refugee status because of a communications breakdown in the Department of Home Affairs.
"There's been a lot said about the Australian Federal Police over the last two months and our role with Interpol," Colvin told News Corp Australia on Saturday.
"The AFP were not aware that he was in Australia. We were not aware at the time of his presentation at the border leaving to Thailand that he was the subject of a protection visa."
"As soon as we became aware we notified Interpol and the red notice was immediately rescinded. It's important that we're dealing with the facts here," he said.
"The Home Affairs Department are doing an end-to-end review to look at where the lessons can be learnt to make sure this doesn't happen to anybody else."
