NTB Police Monitor 56 Migrant Workers Victims Of TIP In Lampung And North Sumatra

NTB Deputy Chief of Police who is also the Head of the NTB TPPO Task Force Brigadier General Ruslan Aspan Police (ANTARA/Dhimas B.P.)

The West Nusa Tenggara Police monitored the fate of 56 prospective Indonesian migrant workers from the area who were victims of the crime of trafficking in persons (TPPO) in Lampung and North Sumatra.

"We are still monitoring the whereabouts of 56 of our residents in Lampung and North Sumatra. For Lampung, it is reported that they will be repatriated on Monday (19/6)," said NTB Deputy Chief of Police Brigadier General Ruslan Aspan in Mataram as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, June 15.

He conveyed this based on information from the results of a coordination meeting with stakeholders at the NTB Police Headquarters.

"For those in North Sumatra, it has not yet (planned repatriation). But, what is clear, we will still monitor it through coordination," said Ruslan, who also serves as Head of the NTB Police TPPO Task Force.

In these two cases, the NTB Regional Police were involved in tracing the roles of recruiters and networks linking the suspects in Lampung and North Sumatra.

"Indeed, the handling is in each region. However, we helped because as long as they got there it was from here, NTB. We will investigate who the recruiters and their networks are," he said.

Ruslan conveyed that his party together with stakeholders in NTB agreed to strengthen efforts to eradicate TPPO through the recruitment of prospective Indonesian migrant workers.

"Moreover, it can be seen from national data that NTB is in fourth place as the contributor to most migrant workers in Indonesia after East Java, West Java and NTT," he said.

The Deputy Chief of Police revealed that based on data in 2022, around 17,000 NTB residents were registered as migrant workers who left for overseas through official procedures. Meanwhile, for 2023 to June, the number has reached 16,000 people.