Mumbai: Australia on Wednesday said some attacks on Indian students in the suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney were opportunistic and cases of simple robbery.
"After investigations, we have confirmed that these attacks were not racial and mere opportunistic and petty robbery and most of the accused were teenagers who took to petty crimes," Colin Walters, a senior official from the Australian Department of Education, who led a high-level delegation touring Indian cities, told newspersons here.
The accused were between the age group of 14 and 18 and attacked the victims for money and other costly belongings.
"We want to inform Indians that Australia is a safe place for students. The international student population there is increasing every year and there are 1,00,000 Indian students alone currently studying in the universities of Australia. Our government has taken a lot of steps to prevent attacks on students by strengthening legislation," Walters said.
Without giving any number, the official said the accused have been arrested, issued a chargesheet and trials are on.
Unfortunately, the victims were at wrong places at the wrong time and the attacks were not racial as portrayed by some sections of media in India, Walter said.
"Australia is not a racist country as we were one of the first countries to have legislation against racism 40 years back," Walters said.