Riau Islands Police Failed 213 Illegal PMI Candidates, Many Used Tourist Passports

Head of Sub-Directorate IV Gakkum TPPO Ditreskrimum Polda Kepri AKBP Andyka Aer in Batam, Thursday (25/9/2025). (ANTARA/Laily Rahmawaty.)

RIAU - Sub-Directorate IV of Law Enforcement (Gakkum) for the Crime of Trafficking in Persons (TPPO) of the Riau Islands Police (Kepri) thwarted the shipment of 213 illegal Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) from January to October 2025.

Head of Sub-Directorate IV Gakkum TPPO Ditreskrimsus Polda Kepri, AKBP Andyka Aer, said that most of the prospective non-procedural migrant workers were dispatched using travel passports.

"Most of them departed using travel passports (tourists)," Andyka said when met at the Riau Islands Police Headquarters, Antara, Tuesday, October 28.

He explained that during this period his party had uncovered 67 TIP cases using the non-procedural PMI departure mode. Of that number, 213 victims were rescued and 95 people were named as suspects.

"Of the 67 cases, 29 of them are still in the process of being investigated, and 38 cases are in phase II to the prosecutor's office," he said.

According to Andyka, these cases were revealed by various units in the ranks of the Riau Islands Regional Police, with details of the Ditreskrimum as many as 16 cases, Ditpolairud 15 cases, Polresta Barelang along with 29 cases, Polresta Tanjungpinang four cases, and Karimun Police three cases.

Furthermore, he said that most of the non-procedural PMI candidates came from outside Riau Islands such as East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), and Java.

"They are the ones who pay for passport management themselves, some are financed by prospective employers or borrow from their families, with costs between Rp. 10 million to Rp. 12 million," said Andyka.

These prospective migrant workers generally work as rough laborers, garden workers, or factory workers. Some of them are known to have worked abroad illegally, while others have only tried their luck for the first time.

"They chose a non-procedural route because they wanted to leave quickly and didn't want to bother participating in official training, even though most of the work they went to did not require expertise certification," said Andyka.