Immigration's VSC-80i Device Brings Foreigners Of Passport Forgers To Suspect

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JAKARTA - The Directorate General of Immigration has named a foreign citizen (WNA) with the initials EW as a suspect for passport falsification who wants to enter Indonesian territory.

"Investigators of the Class I Immigration Office Special for Soekarno-Hatta Immigration Checkpoint raised the status of a foreigner with the initials EW to be a suspect", said Head of the Immigration Office Class I Special Immigration Checkpoint (TPI) Soekarno-Hatta, Muhammad Tito Andrianto, in a written statement received in Jakarta, Tuesday, July 12, as quoted from Antara.

The determination of the suspect was after immigration investigators managed to collect two valid and convincing pieces of evidence. The suspect is known to have flown using a Garuda Indonesia aircraft (GA875) on the Haneda route to Soekarno-Hatta.

Initially, TPI officers suspected EW when conducting immigration checks. From the observation of physical characteristics, it does not show that the person concerned is a Mexican or a person from Latin America.

EW actually has physical characteristics like ethnic Chinese. The officer's suspicion grew when EW could neither speak Spanish nor English. The suspect is actually fluent in Mandarin.

Not only that, the officers again found irregularities in the passports used because on the covers, visa pages, and sewing threads there were signs of changes, and seemed untidy.

Furthermore, he explained, the field of intelligence and immigration action at the Immigration Office Class I Special Immigration Checkpoint (TPI) Soekarno-Hatta followed up by conducting a forensic examination of documents using the VSC-80i device.

"As a result, the passport used by EW was concluded to be fake", he said.

This finding was strengthened by a statement from the Mexican Embassy in Jakarta which explained that EW's name and birth certificate number were not recorded in the Civil Registry Book. EW is also not registered with the passport issuance system in the national territory.

In that case, immigration officers secured some evidence, namely a Mexican national passport (fake), a printout of the E-Visa of the Republic of Indonesia, a boarding pass, a Mexican election card, and a Mexican driver's license (SIM) and several ATM cards.

For his actions, EW can be charged with Article 119 paragraph (2) of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6 of 2011 concerning Immigration with a maximum imprisonment of five years and a fine of IDR 500 thousand.

Currently, the person concerned is still being held at the Class II-A Youth Correctional Institution (Lapas) in Tangerang during the investigation process.