The Case Of TIP Of Foreign Ships In Garut, The Police Will Check The Information Of The Ministry Of Transportation's Expert Witness

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The Garut Police are preparing an expert witness from the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) to complete the investigation files of three suspects in a criminal case of trafficking in persons (TPPO) who were employed on foreign ships.

Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Garut Police, AKP Deni Nurcahyadi, said that expert witnesses in the field of sea relations at the Ministry of Transportation were needed because this case was related to the placement of labor as crew members (ABK).

"Now that we are in the investigation stage, there are several expert witnesses who must be presented to explain the criminal case of trafficking in persons," he said in Garut, West Java (West Java), Wednesday, July 19, which was confiscated by Antara.

Deni explained that the TIP case on foreign ships was carried out by a labor distribution company in Garut, the shipping sector. Garut Police named three suspects in this case on June 19, 2023.

In the process of investigating this case, Deni said that the Garut Police had raided the work distribution office, then an investigation and currently an investigation status has been raised.

During the investigation stage, apart from being able to obtain expert witness statements, another need to complete is the basic safety training (BST) certificate examination which is usually obtained by sailors or people working on ships.

"We also want to get the fact that it is a BST certificate, whether it is issued or not," he said.

He added that the TIP case had also coordinated with the Garut District Attorney regarding the completeness of the files so that when the trial was ready with the documents and evidence.

"For the suspects, while there are still three, whether there are additional or not, we will see developments in the testimony of expert witnesses," he said.

The police uncovered the TIP case in Garut by opening a place for shipping sector workers to fish in foreign waters called PT Raya Mulya Bahari in Garut.

The police named three suspects, namely the initials R (41) who acted as the owner of the company, then AS (26), and MF (23) were staff or who assisted in the distribution of migrant workers.

As a result of his actions, the three suspects languished in the Garut Police Detention Center to undergo further legal examination and were charged with Article 10 of the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Eradication of TIP, in conjunction with Article 53 of the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 18 of 2017 concerning the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.