Australian navy reportedly fired shots in high seas to scare off asylum seekers Immigration Minister Scott Morrison is boasting an 80 per cent reduction in asylum seekers arriving by boat. Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison announcing the end of the first phase of the government's stop the boats policy. THE Federal Government says no shots have been fired at any time during Operation Sovereign Borders. An Indonesian local police commissioner from southern Java, who did not want to be named, told Fairfax Media that villagers plucked a number of asylum seekers from the water on January 8 after their boat was turned back by Australian authorities. After speaking to those on board the boat, the officer said the navy had "shot into the air just to scare them." "The boat hadn't reached Australia - they were still at sea but they said they could already see Christmas Island," the officer said. But they said the Australian navy then drove them away and escorted them until they entered Indonesian waters again. The boat had been carrying 25 people - including four children - from Bangladesh and Myanmar and two Indonesian crew. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison told AAP today he would not comment on the specific allegation. " (But) I can confirm that no shots have been fired at any time by any persons involved in Operation Sovereign Borders since the operation commenced," Mr Morrison said in a statement. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the government should provide more detail. "The possibility of shots being fired is really alarming," she told ABC radio. Meanwhile, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has indicated that Australia could be going further than turning boats back, by potentially facilitating the movement of asylum seekers. Dr Natalegawa was responding to the federal government's admission that lifeboats have been bought - reportedly to send asylum seekers back to Indonesia. "Developments of the type that have been reported in the media, namely the facilitation by way of boats, this is the kind of slippery slope that we have identified in the past," Dr Natalegawa said. Operation Sovereign Borders commander Angus Campbell yesterday confirmed the purchase of the lifeboats but declined to say how they would be used.