Police Thwart The Departure Of 36 Non-Procedural Hajj Candidates At Soetta Airport

TANGERANG Be careful and don't be easily persuaded by people who claim to be able to dispatch Hajj without official channels from the Ministry of Religion. The problem is, if caught, they will be sent home, as happened not long ago.

A total of 36 non-procedural hajj pilgrims were thwarted by their departure by the police at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. They are known to use work visas or amil visas for Hajj, which do not comply with applicable regulations.

Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of the Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police, Kompol Yandri Mono, said that this effort was revealed after Immigration officers examined the documents of the prospective pilgrims. Further examination found that they used the transit mode to third countries before continuing their flight to Saudi Arabia.

"The mode is the same, using transit flights," said Yandri in his statement, Wednesday, May 7.

The prospective pilgrims are scheduled to fly using SriLankan Airlines UL 356 on the Jakarta 'Colombo route, then to Riyadh. Of the 36 people who were prevented, two of them were group leaders and companions.

"Of the 34 prospective pilgrims, the other two are leaders and companions," said Yandri.

Based on the initial examination, all prospective pilgrims admitted that they did not know that the visa they were using was a work visa, not a Hajj visa. They have paid a fee of between Rp. 139 million to Rp. 175 million to two people with the initials IA and NF who arranged the departure.

"Their age range is between 35 and 72 years. They pay to IA and NF, who don't tell that the visa used is a work visa," Yandri explained.

To convince prospective pilgrims, the IA and NF claimed to have dispatched pilgrims to the Holy Land in 2024. Information about the success spread from mouth to mouth, thus attracting more people to register. The money was deposited through the company owned by the IA, namely PT NSMC.

"Currently we are still investigating IA and NF as organizers of this non-procedural hajj departure," said Yandri. This includes exploring the suspicion of articles and their respective roles.