T

he Indonesian Consulate General (KJRI) in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, has sent home 17 migrant workers after it was discovered they were working in the country illegally.

Head of the migrant workers division at the Batam Social and Cemetery Agency, Ahmad Yani, said on Wednesday that the KJRI sent the workers home via a ferry from Johor Bahru to Batam’s Central International Port in Riau Islands. The agency then placed them in a shelter before sending them back to their hometowns by ship on Wednesday, he added.

According to the agency’s records, 12 of the workers were suffering from depression, two of them did not receive their salary payments, two others were allegedly victims of human trafficking and one allegedly suffered violence at the hands of the employer.