TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Metro Jaya Police Traffic Unit cracked down an illegal travel agent that attempted to smuggle passengers outside of the Greater Jakarta Area (Jabodetabek), which is mainly due to the mudik ban imposed by the government to curb the spread of the COVID-19.

Police claim that the suspects offered their services on Facebook. “We confiscated two vehicles used by the travel agent. They offered their services to the public via Facebook,” said Metro Jaya Traffic Unit Chief Sr. Commissioner Sambodo Purnomo Yogo in Thursday’s online conference, April 30.

From that lead, Sambodo together with his team conducted surveillance on the suspected perpetrators from Wednesday night and saw that two vehicles from the travel agent had attempted to cross the border in Bekasi, Kedung Waringin.

Personnel who were already stationed at the area’s police post then stopped and searched the vehicles and secured 10 people in total. Upon questioning, the passengers revealed that they each had to pay from Rp300,000 - Rp500,000 to the shady travel agent to be transported to their hometown destinations in Central Java.

The vehicles used to smuggle travelers away from Greater Jakarta had even used a civilian license plate and installed a sticker of a government institution to deceive police checkpoints.

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH