Immigration Has New Technology To Recognize The Face Of People Who Are Banned Without Examination

Illustration. x-ray engine at the airport. (doc Setkab)

JAKARTA - Director General of Immigration Silmy Karim revealed that Indonesia has the latest technology to recognize faces in order to block people who are included in the temporary ban list from leaving the country. This was conveyed by Silmy during a press conference "Disclosure of Suspects in Cases of Human Smuggling Enters Judicial Process at the Directorate General of Immigration Building, Jakarta, Wednesday 2 August.

"Immigration has one of the latest technologies, we don't need to know the passport number. Just photos of the targets that will be secured," he said.

According to him, this technology does not require a lot of data from targets that will be banned abroad. It only needs a photo of the person to be secured.

Meanwhile, when the target is in Immigration, the latest technology will issue all passport data and travel history while abroad. This is considered to make it easier for the Directorate General of Immigration to secure any targets that are banned abroad.

"This makes it easier for us to secure anyone who is our target in terms of law enforcement and also help other law enforcement institutions, such as prosecutors, the police, the KPK and so on," he explained.

Not only that, Silmy admitted that the technology that was only used this year could increase the ability to pursue other targets. Operations in Bali are also quite effective in reducing potential violations compared to early 2023 or the previous year.

In addition, this latest technology helps the Directorate General of Immigration to arrest ODG (37) who falsified Indonesian immigration stamps suspected of committing the Crime of Human Smuggling (TPPM).

ODG is known to operate by offering services for the management of the United States Visa via WhatsApp/Facebook/Work Finding Group. The victims were asked to send a sum of money varying between Rp11.5 million to Rp22 million to an account in the name of ODG or PT MCP and were asked to send their passport to ODG.

When they wanted to make a visa for the United States, the embassy raised suspicions on the immigration stamps of a number of Indonesian citizens' passports. The embassy immediately coordinated with the Directorate General of Immigration who then followed up by carrying out the pre-investigative stage.

At this stage Immigration examines potential victims and conducts forensic examinations of immigration stamps on the passports of each person. When asked for information, they admitted that they were recruited by ODG, which they knew via Facebook and on behalf of PT MCP.

For this reason, investigators have made calls to ODG twice, but the suspect has never fulfilled the summons. The Directorate General of Immigration put ODG on the demarcation list.

This step proved effective because on April 22, 2023, ODG was found by Immigration Officers at Soekarno Hatta Airport when they were about to leave for Malaysia. ODG was taken to the Directorate General of Immigration to conduct further investigations.

"The person concerned was arrested while he was about to go to Malaysia, because he was included in the Immigration penalty list. Previously, you had chased the person concerned, we looked for him but we managed to secure him when he wanted to pass," concluded Silmy.

After examining and obtaining sufficient evidence, on May 3, 2023, Immigration Investigators named ODG as a suspect and detained him at the Pondok Bambu Class I State Detention Center.

Investigators have secured several pieces of evidence. Among them are five Indonesian passports belonging to potential victims, one passport belonging to the suspect, one scaled off belonging to the suspect. BCA Newspaper Accounts on behalf of ODG and PT MCP, as well as one PT MCP Profile file.

ODG is threatened with a minimum imprisonment of five years and a maximum of 15 years and a fine of at least Rp. 500 million and a maximum of Rp. 1.5 billion.