They (the victims) were being taken to countries in the Middle East, such as United Arab Emirates and Iraq, to be sold as domestic workers.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has repatriated the second batch of 39 people, who had been trapped by human traffickers, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

According to the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM), Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia, Hermono, the 39 victims arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday, and were being interrogated by the National Police Criminal Investigation Directorate.

At a press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here on Wednesday, Hermono said some 53 Indonesian citizens, all of them women, were rescued from an apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, through a joint operation with the Malaysian Police on November 11, 2014. The first batch comprising 14 people had been repatriated to Indonesia on November 29.

"They (the victims) were being taken to countries in the Middle East, such as United Arab Emirates and Iraq, to be sold as domestic workers," Hermono revealed.

Hermono explained that six of the 53 Indonesians had visas to enter the United Arab Emirates and one had the visa to enter Iraq through Malaysia, while others were waiting for their turn.

"The dealer used Malaysia as a transit country since they must be aware that the Indonesian immigration will reject the visa applications to those countries (UAE and Iraq) as we have a five-year moratorium on sending migrant workers to conflict regions," he said.

Hermono noted that the human trafficker suspect, known by his initials as "IM", is a Jordanian citizen who had been arrested twice by Malaysian authorities, in 2009 and 2013. Hence, he has been in the watch list of the police.

"The human trafficking network is wide and the perpetrators work either from their native states, transit or destination countries," he pointed out.

In Indonesia, the suspect involved Indonesian citizens to recruit candidates from across the archipelago. The 53 people are from West Sumbawa and Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara Province), Sukabumi (West Java Province), Tangerang (Banten), and Lampung Province.

During their interrogation at the National Police Criminal Investigation Directorate, Hermono remarked, the victims revealed they were sent from Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, via Batam Island and then picked up by IM and his cronies.

"Hopefully, by uncovering this case, we can cut off the supply chain of human trafficking distribution to the Middle East, and push law enforcement on IM and other traffickers networks," said Hermono.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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