The arrests were made during the Joint Immigration Operation of the North Jakarta Immigration Office and the North Jakarta Foreigner Oversight Team (Timpora).

Immigration division head Agus Widjaja of the North Jakarta Immigration Office said that of those arrested at a budget hotel, 40 were Nigerians and two were Ugandans, including two women.

“Only eight people had passports with them, [...] while the other 34 could not show their documents,” Agus said as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com on Thurday. 

He added that his office still needed to verify the documents, and that it would pursue an investigation into the companies or individuals that had sponsored the foreign nationals. 

“We are also investigating whether or not they entered Indonesia through legal ports,” he said. 

One of the arrested Nigerians, Chris Ihouma, said he came to Indonesia to work. His visa, however, had apparently had expired on August 2017.

“I did not report [that my visa had expired], as I did not have the chance and I needed to eat, I needed to work,” he said.

Agus said many foreigners preferred these days to stay at budget hotels rather than apartments, and that his team would intensify coordinated surveillance on budget hotels, especially in North Jakarta.

During the raid, immigration authorities also seized laptops, cell phones, hotel receipts and other items belonging to the arrested foreigners. (gis)

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