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View all search resultsPolice nab two Riau students over attempt to smuggle 18 foreigners to Malaysia
According to police, the students were paid to transport the group by car from Pekanbaru to Dumai, where a boat had been arranged to take the 18 foreign migrants to Malaysia via an illegal port.
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A member of a joint security team (center rear, crouching) talks to five people in a room at the Amira Wisma Dumai hotel in Riau on Dec. 12, 2025, as two colleagues (in doorway) look on, during an operation to prevent their departure to jobs in Cambodia through Malaysia, allegedly organized by a human trafficking syndicate.
(Courtesy of BP3MI Riau/-)
P
olice have arrested two university students over suspicions of attempting to smuggle 18 Myanmar nationals to Malaysia by speedboat from Dumai, Riau, without proper immigration documents.
Riau Police chief spokesman Sr. Comr. Zahwani Pandya Arsyad said on Feb. 14 that the alleged human trafficking attempt was uncovered thanks to a tip from the public received on Feb. 9 via the National Police call center 110. The caller reported that a group of foreigners were spotted at an illegal seaport in Dumai.
“At around 1 a.m., a police patrol team [aboard] KM Kedidi followed up the report by setting up surveillance around Jl. Purwo Salim and Jl. Penyembal in Tanjung Penyembal subdistrict, Sungai Sembiland district,” Zahwani said.
During the stakeout, members of the Riau Police’s Marine and Air Police (Polairud) unit intercepted two cars, a white Honda BR-V driven by suspect Muhammad Alfa Reza and a gray Toyota Avanza driven by Fahri Adriansyah. Inside each car were nine foreigner nationals allegedly intending to cross illegally into Malaysia by speedboat.
“Both suspects are from Kampar regency, Riau, and are university students,” Zahwani added.
“They confessed that they were instructed by an agent to take out rental cars, pick up the foreigners in Pekanbaru and drive them to a designated point in Dumai for their departure to Malaysia,” he said, adding that the unnamed “agent” was on the run.
Fahri was allegedly paid Rp 1.5 million (US$90) and Reza Rp 1.2 million to transport the group. Upon their arrest, the pair were found to be carrying Rp 850,000 and Rp 550,000, respectively, according to Zahwani.
