T

he police have compiled statements from 37 people in Lampung and Cianjur, West Java, following the alleged involvement of military and police personnel in the notorious 'slave' factory in Tangerang regency, Banten.

Thirty of those questioned were former workers at the factory in Bayur Opak in East Sepatan district, while others were the worker's family and village heads.

'The police are still studying the results of the adjunct investigation to find possible new charges to weigh against the five detained suspects; factory owner Yuki Irawan and four of the firm's foremen. We are also looking for two other foremen and the military and police personnel implicated in the case,' Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Monday.

According Rikwanto, the police are still collecting information from Yuki's middlemen ' T from Lampung and U from Cianjur who recruited workers for him.

'The police will study the recruitment process. If they find any indication of human trafficking, the accused will also be charged with that,' he said.

As many as 34 workers, from Lampung and Cianjur in West Java, were freed late on May 3 from the factory where they experienced torturous working hours and treatment meted out to them by their employer.

The workers claimed they were forced to work 18 hours a day without pay despite being promised a monthly wage of Rp 600,000 (US$62) .

Their cell phones, clothes and wallets were confiscated before starting work and they were placed in a room measuring 6 meters by 8 meters with no windows and had to share a single bathroom.

Some workers said that they were crammed into a single bedroom where they had to rest after a long day at work, while others told horrific details about their incarceration, such as using detergent to bathe themselves. ' JP/hrl