Police Redefine One Suspect Of Sinking Migrant Worker Ship

The Head of the Public Relations Division of the National Police Divhumas Brigadier General Ahmad Ramadhan/ANTARA

JAKARTA - Investigators from the Ditkrimum of the Riau Islands Police have again named one suspect in the case of a ship that sank that killed illegal Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) in Malaysian waters.

The Head of the Public Relations Division of the National Police's Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Ahmad Ramadhan, said that one person who was named a suspect had the initials S alias AC.

"The suspect S alias AC acts as a provider and owner of a ship that illegally transports TKI or PMI from Indonesia to Johor Baru, Malaysia," Ramadhan said, Tuesday, January 4.

Ramadhan said that apart from owning a ship carrying illegal PMIs, S alias AC also has a place to accommodate PMIs who want to be illegally employed abroad.

"So before departing, they are first collected at one point before being dispatched by ship," said Ramadhan.

In addition to arresting the perpetrators, investigators confiscated evidence in the form of printed proof of bank statements in the name of the suspect.

Investigators have also examined six witnesses. It is not known how long it has been for S alias AC to send illegal PMIs to Malaysia. Police are still investigating the role and the possibility of involvement of other parties.

Suspect S alias AC was charged with multiple layers of articles, namely Article 7 of Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Eradication of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons and Article 81 and Article 83 of Law Number 18 of 2017 concerning Protection of PMIs.

"The suspect is also charged with Article 3 in conjunction with Article 4 of Law 8 of 2010 concerning the Crime of Money Laundering," said Ramadhan.

Previously, investigators had named two suspects, JI and AS, both of whom acted as illegal recruiters of migrant workers.