Transported By Public Ships To Blend With Passengers, 17 Sumba Children Become Victims Of Human Trafficking On Java Island

Illustration of a general ship carrying a passenger belonging to Pelni at the port. (Antara)

NTT - The Regency Government (Pemkab) of East Sumba is investigating cases of alleged Trafficking in Persons (TPPO) against 17 children from four regencies on Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

"We are currently investigating the alleged child trafficking. We have coordinated with the East Sumba Police," said the Head of the East Sumba Regency Manpower and Transmigration Service, Nico Pandarangga, when contacted, Tuesday, October 25.

He said that his party had received information regarding the alleged Human Trafficking Criminal case against 17 children from Sumba Island who were recruited by the Cinderella Agency.

Of the 17 people, he said, the majority of children who became victims were from Southwest Sumba Regency, while two were from East Sumba.

Dozens of children were recruited by unscrupulous residents of the island of Sumba. They were brought to the island of Java using a public ship from the port of East Sumba.

Pandarangga admitted that the recruitment had escaped the supervision of the local government because it was taken by ship together with many other passengers.

"So frankly, this has indeed escaped our attention because there are hundreds to thousands of people who are loaded on ships, so it is quite difficult, different from passing through an airport which is easily detected," he said, according to Antara.

However, he said, his party is currently investigating the alleged human trafficking, including exploring the mode of operation carried out.

"We have a team together with the police to investigate and investigate so that when it is known that anyone involved, we will process it legally," he said.