Police Again Name 2 Rohingya Smugglers To Aceh

The press conference revealed a case of smuggling Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Indonesia, Aceh, at the Banda Aceh Police Headquarters, Wednesday (27/12/2023) (ANTARA/Rahmat Fajri)

The Banda Aceh Police Satreskrim has again named two suspects suspected of being involved in the Rohingya refugee smuggling case to the coast of Aceh Besar, after one person had previously been detained.

"Based on the results of the investigation case, the investigators again named two other suspects, namely MAH (22) and HB (53)," said Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of the Banda Aceh Police, Kompol Fadillah Aditya Pratama, quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, December 27.

Previously, the Banda Aceh Police named a Rohingya ethnic resident with the initials MA (35) as a suspect in the alleged smuggling of 137 people (people sampling) to Indonesia.

The suspect, who is from Myanmar, is a refugee from Camp 1 Blok H-88 Kutupalum, the location of the Rohingya Ethnic Shelter in Cox's Bazar Bangladesh.

MA is one of the Rohingya in a group of 137 Rohingya who landed on the coast of Lamreh Village, Mesjid Raya District, Aceh Besar on Sunday (10/12), which is still in the underground parking lot of Balai Meuseuraya Aceh (BMA) in Banda Aceh.

Fadillah said the suspect MAH was a Bangladeshi citizen, and HB was born in Myanmar who was also taking refuge in the Balokali Cox's Bazar Bangladesh camp.

Each suspect has a different role, namely MAH being the driver of the ship which was carried out alternately with the first suspect MA, and ensuring that the ship arrived in Indonesia with a compass aid.

"While the suspect HB acts as a ship engine technician, for his work he gets a salary of 70 thousand Taka ( Bangladesh currency)," he said.

In this case, continued Fadillah, investigators examined as many as 12 refugee witnesses. From there, it can be concluded that the suspects MAH and HB are strongly suspected of collaborating to help the Supreme Court carry out a criminal act of smuggling Rohingya from Bangladesh to Indonesia.

"MAH as the ship's driver, HB as the engine engineer of this ship also gets wages from Inus (one in Bangladesh) if he manages to bring Rohingya to Indonesia," he said.

He said the landing coordinates of the ship they owned had been received before leaving, related to it, were still in the process of being investigated.

In this case, the police confiscated a number of pieces of evidence in the form of a fishing boat bearing NAZMA, cellphones belonging to MA and MAH, 14 stab keys, one British key and a screwdriver belonging to HB.

"Regarding their actions, the suspects were charged with Article 120 paragraph (1) of Law Number 6 of 2011 concerning Immigration in conjunction with Articles 55 and 56 of the Criminal Code," said Kompol Fadillah.