The ministry will take action and report it to the police. We will let the police process the case," Noor said in a written statement received here on Saturday.
So far, the Ministry of Manpower has made a report regarding workers being allegedly smuggled from Indonesia to the Middle East to the police. The ministry has also urged police investigators to find the mastermind behind the syndicate, he added.
"We suspect that the group uses tourist or pilgrimage visas," Noor informed.
Based on the results of their examination, the 63 non-procedural PMIs did not know who was responsible for their departure, he said.
"They were purely departed by people, but they only knew the names and did not know who and where the people were," Noor added.
He said that so far, there have been many cases of migrant workers facing problems abroad, such as cases of rape, abuse, and torture, and their prevention has become one of the country's responsibilities.
"We must protect our residents working in foreign countries. There must be someone in charge when a problem occurs," he added.
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Earlier, the Class I Immigration Office at Soekarno-Hatta Special Immigration Checkpoint (TPI), Tangerang, Banten, had postponed the departure of 63 non-procedural PMIs to Riyadh and Dubai.
They were supposed to leave on an Oman Air flight (WY850) headed to the Middle East via Muscat at 2:55 p.m. local time on Thursday.
"The delay in the departure of 63 PMIs is a form of supervision through a joint operation between Immigration, the Ministry of Manpower, and the Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police," head of the TPI Soekarno-Hatta Special Class I Immigration Office, Muhammad Tito Andrianto, said.
The 63 PMIs were carrying tourist and pilgrimage visas, but when they were interviewed, they said they wanted to go to the Middle East for work, he informed.
"Immigration officers at immigration checkpoints have the authority to examine Indonesia Travel Documents, conduct interviews, scan passports, and check whether the passenger's data is included in the prevention list or not," he added.
According to him, the decision to delay the departure of Indonesian citizens suspected of being non-procedural PMIs reflects the firmness of immigration control, in line with Circular Letter Number IMI.2.GR.01.01-4.5890 of 2021.
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Translator: Azmi Syamsul M, Resinta S
Editor: Suharto
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