Victims Forced To Return To Indonesia For Their Own Costs, Illegal PMI Agents In Tangerang Arrested

Illustration of human trafficking (ANTARA)

TANGERANG - Tangerang City Police (Polresta), Banten Police, managed to secure an illegal Indonesian Migrant Workers distributor agent (PMI) in the Kemuning Village area, Kresek District, Tangerang Regency. One of the victims admitted that he had to return to Indonesia using personal costs. Tangerang Police Criminal Investigation Unit Kompol Arief said that the perpetrator S, who is an illegal PMI agent, was secured by officers at his residence in the Keresek area. "So, the victim with the initials K, departed with the perpetrator's services with the initials S to Qatar in 2022, and was successfully allowed to return to Indonesia around February 2023, but accommodation was borne at his own expense," he said. He said, the perpetrator as a labor agent promised to be responsible for repatributing his wife to Indonesia because the victim was sick. However, after waiting months later there was no follow-up from the perpetrator's office. "So the victim had to bear the cost of accommodation for his own return. In fact, he was also detained at the office of the agent who was in Qatar at the time of waiting for his return to Indonesia without being given the opportunity to communicate with his family. In addition, he was also promised to be given a salary of 1,500 reals but it turned out that after working at a salary of 1,200 reals, "he revealed, after successfully arresting the perpetrator along with his colleague with M, claiming to have a profit of Rp. 5 to Rp7 million per victim in departure to foreign countries. In addition, the perpetrator since 2021 has assigned many foreign workers to the target of the Middle East country.

"There are many victims, targeting the country in the Middle East. So far, there are victims who are still abroad, namely Dubai. Meanwhile, there is one more victim who has received immigration acts with deportation," he said. As for the actions of the perpetrators, alleged Article 2 paragraph (1), Article 4, Article 10 of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Implementation of the Crime of Trafficking in conjunction with Article 81 Jo 86 letter b of Law Number 18 of 2017 concerning the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers with a minimum penalty of 3 years and a maximum of 15 years.