Cases Of Sending Child Workers From Dompu NTB To Saudi Arabia, Files And Suspects Will Be Transferred March 7

The suspect for recruiting PMI age children with the initials IS (left two) was arrested in Jakarta arriving in NTB, Friday 9 December 2022. (ANTARA-HO-Polda NTB)

West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Regional Police stated that the case file for sending child workers from Dompu Regency to Saudi Arabia with the suspect with the initials IS was declared complete.

Head of the Sub-Directorate of Youth, Children and Women (Renakta) of the NTB Police Criminal Investigation Unit AKBP Ni Made Pujawati said the transfer of files and suspects in this case would be scheduled for Tuesday, March 7.

"If there are no obstacles in phase two, it will be held on Tuesday, March 7 at 09.00 WITA," he said in Mataram, Thursday, March 2, which was confiscated by Antara.

He said investigators would transfer the suspect and evidence to the Dompu District Attorney's Office (Kejari) considering that the locus of the criminal incident occurred in the Dompu area.

"So, it will be dispatched to Dompu via Bima flight," he said.

The police revealed that this case started with a victim's complaint to his parents who live in Dompu district, while still working as a household assistant in Saudi Arabia.

During his three months of working in Arabia, the victim told his parents that he had never received a salary according to the perpetrator's promise, which was IDR 15 million per month.

In fact, while working in Arabia, the victim admitted that she often received harsh treatment from her employer and almost became a victim of sexual violence.

Parents of victims who heard their children's stories panicked and reported the matter to the NTB Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Service Center (BP3MI).

The report was then followed up by BP3MI NTB to the center and coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The presence of the victim was detected in Arabia by the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. After being found, the victim was immediately sent home and made a police report at the NTB Police.

From the results of the victim's examination, it was revealed the role of IS as a recruiter. The victim was introduced to IS by two of his colleagues with the initials SL and NS who are also migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.

However, because the victim's age is still classified as a child, IS made a fake identity in Jakarta by changing the victim's birth year to enter the adult category.

The IS suspect was later arrested on December 9, 2022. During the arrest, the police carried out developments at IS's house in Jakarta.

From the results of the search, the police confiscated evidence that allegedly corroborated the role of IS as a migrant worker recruiter.

The evidence is in the form of 16 passport books known to belong to residents from Sulawesi, Sukabumi, and Madura.

After the arrest in Jakarta, the police immediately took IS along with evidence to Mataram and detained him in the NTB Police detention room.

In the file belonging to the suspect IS, investigators have included evidence that confirms indications of criminal violations in accordance with the application of Article 6, Article 10, Article 11 in conjunction with Article 4 of Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Eradication of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons.