he Riau Islands Police have rescued a dozen Indonesian migrant workers in Batam from suspected trafficking attempts to Singapore and the United Arab Emirates and have arrested three suspects allegedly involved in the scheme.
Riau Islands Police general crimes unit deputy director Adj. Sr. Comr. Ruslan Abdul Rasyid said local residents had tipped the police off to a shelter for undocumented migrant workers near the Cipta Emerald Batam Centre Company.
“We rescued two undocumented female Indonesian migrant workers and one caretaker identified by the initials SC,” Ruslan said on Wednesday
The police later found 10 undocumented Indonesian migrant workers, all women, in a shelter in the Muka Kuning Paradise Company building in Sagulung district, Batam, and arrested another caretaker, identified as FA.
"Later we also detained another suspect with the initials DW,” he added.
The police said DW had reportedly offered the women domestic helper jobs in Dubai and Singapore with a monthly salary of Rp 6 million (US$409) through the "Batam Jobs Vacancy" account on Facebook.
SC had allegedly been involved in recruiting potential migrant workers from their villages, the police said.
Investigators confiscated mobile phones, signed statement letters, nine passports and a limited partnership permit for the Aura Ria Batam Company as evidence.
“The suspects have violated Article 81 of Law No. 18/2017 on the protection of Indonesian migrant workers, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to Rp 15 billion,” Ruslan said, as quoted by kompas.com. (trn)
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