Mataram, W Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - The Mataram immigration office in East Nusa Tenggara province has deported 12 Chinese workers to their country for violating administrative rules.

"They have been deported in two flight batches. Some of them departed from Jakarta and the others from Bali," chief of the immigration office Romi Yudianto said here on Tuesday.

The 12 Chinese nationals were employed in a sand-dredging project at the Labuhan Haji pier in East Lombok district before they were deported, he said.

"There are several administrative qualifications that they could not meet so they must be deported," he said.

He said the immigration office continued to monitor the activities of the company in Jakarta which employed the 12 Chinese nationals.

"Dont let the case recur. Hence, we keep monitoring the activities of their sponsor," he said.

Early this year, the immigration office seized the passports of the 12 Chinese nationals for allegedly violating the immigration law.

The immigration office seized their passports after receiving a report from the public that they were also employed to install pipes at the pier.

However, none of them was found working on the land. They were employed aboard a ship to dredge sand at the pier according to their work permit.

When the immigration officers were to check their limited stay permits, they could not show them as the Directorate General of Immigration in Jakarta had not issued them.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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