Dumai Navy Base Commander Colonel Himawan noted that the naval base team, led by technical intelligence sub-unit commander First Lieutenant Fersy Angry, chased the migrant workers, their agent, and boat crews that escaped to the shore after abandoning their boat while being pursued by the officers.
"We intercept the boat while they were sailing to Malaysia. We then continued to pursue the boat after they made a U-turn to the shore and ran their ship aground in the Sentau Hulu beach. We managed to only successfully apprehend the migrant workers while their agent and the boat crews fled the scene," Himawan stated in Dumai, Riau, on Tuesday.
The migrant workers were later brought to a Navy post in Tanjung Medang, Dumai, and afterwards were handed over to the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) for investigation, he stated.
Following a tip from an agent, the Navy Base decided to follow up on the information by dispatching a team to patrol the Tanjung Penyembal waters and intercept the boat, the commander remarked.
The success of the Dumai Naval Base team in foiling the smuggling of Indonesian migrant workers to Malaysia demonstrated the Navy's determination and vigilance to mitigate security threats at respective jurisdictions as instructed by the Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Yudo Margono, Himawan stated.
The naval base team had also earlier foiled an attempt to smuggle 22 illegal migrant workers to Malaysia by sea, he noted.
The naval base commander also urged prospective migrant workers to pursue only legal means to work overseas through recognized agencies.
Related news: BP2MI foils attempt to smuggle 21 Indonesian illegal migrant workers
Related news: Riau police name two suspects in migrant workers` smuggling case
Translator: Riski M/Abdul R, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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