On Monday (October 21), the Regional Police of Aceh Province announced that the stranded Rohingya immigrants were victims of human trafficking operations.Banda Aceh (ANTARA) - A joint search and rescue team (SAR) evacuated 139 Rohingya immigrants stranded in the waters of Labuhan Haji, South Aceh, Aceh Province, to the Labuhan Haji Ferry Port.
"We have evacuated 139 Rohingya immigrants to the land using a fishing motorboat," Head of the SAR Task Force of South Aceh, Zumardi Chaidir, remarked in South Aceh District on Thursday.
He revealed that the immigrants were brought to the Labuhan Haji Ferry Port in multiple trips due to the fishing vessel's 26-person capacity limit per trip.
"We picked them up gradually according to the boat's capacity of 26 people. The immigrants comprise children, women, and adult males," he pointed out.
Chaidir stated that the immigrants are currently sheltered in the terminal building of the transportation facility.
Earlier, the original motorboat carrying the Rohingya immigrants was found adrift four miles offshore in the waters of Labuhan Haji on Friday (October 19) after local residents denied it to come ashore.
The ship was reportedly carrying aboard 151 Rohingya people comprising 79 women, 13 men, and 59 children under 10.
Of the 151 immigrants, 12 were brought ashore earlier due to health issues. They received treatments at the Yuliddin Away Regional Public Hospital in Tapaktuan, the capital of South Aceh District.
On Monday (October 21), the Regional Police of Aceh Province announced that the stranded Rohingya immigrants were victims of human trafficking operations.
Speaking in Banda Aceh City, head of the regional police's public relations division Grand Commissioner Joko Krisdiyanto remarked that his side had apprehended three people suspected of being human traffickers, identified by the initials F, A, and I.
Based on the investigation, he remarked that the immigrants departed from refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, between October 9-12, traveling through the Andaman Sea.
Translator: M. Haris, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Arie Novarina
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