Cases Of Trafficking In Persons In NTB Immediately Courted, Files Entered The Prosecutor's Office

MATARAM - The West Nusa Tenggara Regional Police (Polda NTB) handed over two suspects in the case of recruiting Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) who did not follow the procedure (non-procedural) to the prosecutor.

Head of the Sub-Directorate for Youth, Children and Women (Renakta) of the General Criminal Investigation (Reskrimum) of the NTB Police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner of Police (AKBP) Ni Made Pujewati in Mataram, said the handover was part of the implementation of phase two or the transfer of suspects and evidence from investigators to the public prosecutor.

"So, the second stage of the case that we carried out this afternoon is a follow-up to the results of the prosecutor's research which has stated that the files belonging to the two suspects are complete," said Pujewati as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, February 2.

In this activity, Pujawati said that the prosecutor's office continued the detention of two suspects with the initials MU (47) alias Tuan Zaki and SN (37) alias Ela.

For Mr. Zaki, the prosecutor entrusted the detention at the Class IIA Mataram Penitentiary in Kuripan, East Lombok Regency. Meanwhile, Ela continued his detention at the Mataram Class III Women's Prison.

With the implementation of phase two, Pujewati assured that the handling of the non-procedural PMI recruitment case at the police investigation stage had been completed.

"So, now the handling authority is in the public prosecutor," he said.

This case of non-procedural PMI recruitment was first revealed from the victim's report at the end of September 2022. The number of victims in this case was 9 people.

Based on the follow-up to the report, the police managed to reveal the suspect's role from the arrest on November 7, 2022. The police arrested two people who acted as suspected recruiters.

The alleged recruiters who are now suspects are SN, a woman from Sengkol, Pujut District, Central Lombok Regency, and MU from Sandik Village, Batulayar District, West Lombok Regency.

Investigators also named both of them as suspects based on strong evidence, such as personal documents on behalf of the victim, including identity cards, victim passports, and payment receipts for the recruitment process. Determination of the two as suspects was also confirmed by the victim's statement.

In addition to confiscating evidence and information from the victims, the police also pocketed expert statements from the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) and the NTB Manpower and Transmigration Service (Disnakertrans).

The two suspects were also revealed to have carried out the mode of crime by promising the victim to work as PMI in Saudi Arabia. This promise will be fulfilled if the victim submits Rp22 million in cash.

The two suspects discussed the Rp22 million as a fee for all administrative needs to work abroad, such as making passports, health checks, and managing work visas.

In the files belonging to the two suspects, investigators applied Article 81 in conjunction with Article 69 of the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 18 of 2017 concerning PMI Protection, with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of Rp. 15 billion.

Before continuing the detention in different places, the two suspects have been detained by investigators at the NTB Police Detention Center since their arrest on November 7, 2022.