Police Record 405 Cases Of Trafficking In Persons Occurred During 2020-2023

Illustration of Bareskrim Polri. (doc. Antara)

A total of 405 cases of trafficking in persons (TPPO) with 517 suspects arrested were successfully investigated by the National Police during the period 2020 to April 2023.

"Of the 405 cases, 1,364 people were victims of TIP," said the Director of General Crimes (Dirtipidum) of the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency Brigadier General Djuhandhani Rahardjo Puro in his statement, Friday, May 5, was confiscated by Antara.

Based on data from the Dittipidum Bareskrim Polri, there were 126 cases revealed in 2020 with the number of victims consisting of adult women, adult men and girls, namely 105 women, 93 men and 35 children.

Then in 2021 there were 122 cases with 165 cases of victims, 59 men and 74 children. In 2022 there was a spike in cases, namely 133 cases with a large number of victims, 336 women, 306 men and 21 children.

According to Djuhandhani, there was a significant increase in the number of TIP cases during this period, and one of the originators was after the COVID-19 pandemic, the lifting of the ban on travel restrictions abroad.

"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, TIP cases have increased significantly with quite a number of victims," said the one-star general.

According to him, in 2020 and 2021 the highest mode of TIP crime cases is being used as commercial sex workers (CSWs), following migrant workers and household assistant cases (ART).

"In 2022 the highest cases are the mode of migrant workers that we handle, the number of victims is also the highest," he said.

He also conveyed that from these TIP cases, the increasing trend was the victim with the mode of being employed for online scams, gambling and even fraud in Cambodia and Myanmar.

These international crime syndicates established companies in the two countries and recruited victims of Indonesian citizens.

"This syndicate installs job vacancies on Instagram and Facebook to be employed as a gambling operator and others to commit crimes with victims abroad," he said.

Djuhandhani revealed that the victims were dispatched from Jakarta to Thailand or Singapore first by plane. Then fly again or by air to Cambodia or Myanmar.

He also said that the number of trafficking victims who were rescued was due to information assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also the local Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI).

"In February we arrested three TIP suspects who acted as recruiters, thanks to reports from the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The victim reported to the embassy that he was employed as telemarketing scamming and online gambling," he said.

According to him, the number of TIP cases is still rampant because the victims are lured by recruiters or sponsors with high salaries.

"It turned out that his salary was cut there, many were held captive and tortured," he said.

In uncovering the case of Indonesian migrant workers being held captive in Cambodia, the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemlu) and also the police in Cambodia to release and repatriate the workers to Indonesia.

After being successfully discharged, investigators conducted an assessment of the migrant workers and obtained information, so that they could arrest the perpetrators of TIP.

According to Djuhandhani, the action taken by the National Police as a commitment of the National Police to support the prevention and prosecution of alleged criminal acts of trafficking in persons.

"This issue will later be discussed at the ASEAN 2023 Summit Labuan Bajo. The National Police supports the issue of human trafficking discussed at the ASEAN 2023 Summit," said Djuhandhani.