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View all search resultsRiau authorities rescue 729 migrant workers from trafficking syndicate
The preventive strategy proved effective in cutting nonprocedural migrant worker networks at exit points along Riau’s coastal areas.
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Exit blocked: Personnel from a joint team (background) speak with five migrant workers at the Wisma Amira hotel in Dumai, Riau, on Dec. 12, 2025, to prevent illegal departures. A human trafficking syndicate had planned to send the workers to Cambodia via Malaysia. (Courtesy of BP3MI Riau/-)
T
he year 2025 was a busy one for the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Service Center (BP3MI) Riau, which rescued 729 migrant workers from illegal placement by human trafficking syndicates.
BP3MI Riau head Fanny Wahyu Kurniawan said the center cooperated with the Riau Police and police forces in regencies and cities to carry out 163 preventive operations against human trafficking and illegal placement across the region. The most vulnerable areas were Dumai city, Bengkalis regency and Meranti Islands regency, all coastal areas bordering neighboring countries.
“Preventive strategy proved to be effective in cutting the non-procedural migrant workers chain in exit gates in Riau’s costal areas,” he said on Thursday.
“From the activities, we saved 729 migrant workers and detained 33 suspects who are now undergoing legal processes.”
He said prevention was the priority because protecting migrant workers before departure is far more effective than handling cases once they are already abroad.
Fanny said the last prevention of illegal migrant workers’ departure was held in Dumai city on Dec. 12, when the center rescued four women and a man. The case of the five migrant workers who were about to be sent to Cambodia through Malaysia was uncovered thanks to a report filed by a relative of the migrant workers.
“They were found by a joint team in two rooms in Wisma Amira [hotel] in South Dumai district, which was used as temporary shelter by human trafficking syndicate,” he said.
