Police Thwart 8 Illegal PMIs Destination Cambodia

Police officers show photos of suspects and evidence of illegal PMI cases/ Photo: IST

TANGERANG - Police arrested a man from Garut who is suspected of committing a criminal act of trafficking in Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) non-procedural to Cambodia.

Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of Soekarno Hatta Airport Police, HarKompol Reza Fahlevi, said the arrest of the man with the initials AFA (39) took place in the Garut area, West Java, Sunday, February 26, at 11.00 WIB.

"Eight PMIs are lured to work by the perpetrators as operators of marketing online gambling games," Reza told reporters at the Soekarno Hatta Airport Police, Friday, May 5.

Reza continued, the disclosure of the TIP case began with the report of one of the victims who had left for Cambodia through Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, on Sunday, February 26, 2023. His biological son, continued Reza, who was the victim was a woman with the initials PDP.

Reza said, his party immediately coordinated with the embassy in Kualanamu, Malaysia. Because the Indonesian citizens departed from Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur.

"Furthermore, the coordination of the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia, of the 8 people, was successfully repatriated on February 28 and February 29 for this information," he said.

According to Reza, the perpetrators in carrying out their actions made job advertisements on each social media platform, with a promising mode to prospective PMIs for jobs abroad with high salaries.

"After successfully recruiting, the perpetrator accommodated the victims and then departed without documents, as is the requirement for the country to be the destination," he said.

Reza added, based on the perpetrator's statement that his actions had been carried out since December 2022. For four months of action, he continued, the perpetrators had dispatched 40 non-procedural PMIs to Cambodia.

"Since December 2022, the perpetrators have dispatched 40 people. We will continue to coordinate with other stakeholders regarding the whereabouts of the victims," he said.

He said that the AFA perpetrators studied the case so that they had succeeded in dispatching dozens of people based on their experience as PMI in one of the countries in East Asia.

"The perpetrator has a PMI background in one of the countries in East Asia. The perpetrators act in 2022, when there is an invitation to recruit prospective workers to Cambodia," he explained.

"From there, the perpetrators recruited and benefited from one person who managed to recruit a profit of Rp. 1 million, by the recipients in Cambodia," he added.

For his actions, the perpetrators were charged with Article 81 in conjunction with Article 69 and the Karau Article 83 in conjunction with Article 68 of the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 18 of 2017 concerning the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers, with a sentence of 15 years in prison.