Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The foreign affairs ministry and the National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) will repatriate 336 over-stayers from Jidda, Saudi Arabia, on Friday (Feb. 18).

They would consist of 302 female migrant workers, 15 children and 19 infants, Jumhur Hidayat, chairman of the BNP2TKI, said here Wednesday.

The second batch of the migrant workers will leave Jidda on Thursday (Feb. 17) by Garuda Indonesia plane and are expected to arrive at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, Banten, on Friday (Feb. 18) at around 9.30 am local time.

The over-stayed migrant workers are mostly from West Java, Central Java, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Lampung and South Sulawesi.

Last Monday (Feb. 14), 301 Indonesian nationals who had overstayed in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Their return to Jakarta was arranged and paid for by the Indonesian foreign ministry.

BNP2TKI was responsible for arranging their return from the airport to their respective hometowns.

The 301 over-stayers were the first batch of overstayers repatriated from Saudi Arabia.

Jumhur, meanwhile, said that there were no more Indonesians staying illegally under the bridge of Khandara in Jidda.

Deputy Foreign Minister Priyono Wibowo said the Saudi Arabian government used to send up to 24,000 Indonesian over-stayers back to Jakarta annually but last year the number was cut significantly, forcing a lot of problematic Indonesian migrant workers to take refuge under the Khandara bridge in Jidda illegally.

The ministry`s Director General of Protocol and Consular Affairs Lutfi Rauf greeted them and later symbolically handed them over to Deputy Head of the National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) Lisna Y Poeloengan at the airport.
(Uu.F001/HAJM/O001)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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