Sixty-nine of them are from East Nusa Tenggara and the remaining two are from Central Java and East Java.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Eighty-two Indonesian migrant workers who had fallen victim to human trafficking have returned to their home country, accompanied by Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Marshal Herman Prayitna.
Prayitna and his staff, along with the group of 82 migrant workers, arrived aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Banten on Monday, said Suryana Sastradiredja, the Head of Information, Social and Culture Department of the Indonesian Embassy for Malaysia, here on Tuesday.
He stated that 71 of the victims were rescued by Malaysian immigration officers in the Klang region of Selangor, Malaysia, on December 1 last year.
"Sixty-nine of them are from East Nusa Tenggara and the remaining two are from Central Java and East Java," Sastradiredja noted.
The other 11 victims were rescued by Malaysian Police in the Cheras region of Selangor on December 2 last year. Of them, six are from West Java, two are from Central Java and the remaining three are from East Java, West Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi.
"They were going to be sent to Middle Eastern countries, such as United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and Iraq, when the officers rescued them," Sastradiredja said.
The human traffickers lured the victims with false high-paying job offers. For instance, they told the victims that migrant workers in Malaysia make 600 to 700 Malaysian ringgits per month (Rp1.8-2.1 million), Sastradiredja continued.
"Once they (migrant workers) agreed to go, these baddies sent them to Malaysia with a green passport and a visa that was valid for only 30 days," he added.
Apart from the 82 victims rescued, the Indonesian Embassy for Malaysia is making efforts to repatriate 22 other human trafficking victims who have been detained in Malaysia to be used as witnesses in various cases that will be heard by the Malaysian Court.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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