TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Police have again found a number of trucks carrying homecoming travelers from Jakarta and its surrounding area despite a government ban on annual exodus (mudik) to celebrate Eid al-Fitr festivities in hometowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

It seemed that the trucks carried goods but when the police checked their cargoes they found passengers aboard the trucks, Director of Traffic of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Senior Commissioner Sambodo Purnomo Yogo said on Saturday.

"The night before we caught a public transport car and this morning we found several trucks designed in such way to transport passengers using tarpaulin," he said.

Earlier, the police also found a truck carrying eight homeward passengers hiding below the truck's tarpaulin on Friday morning, he said.

The government has issued a regulation banning the use of public transportation, private vehicles, and motorbikes for annual exodus (mudik) to celebrate Eid al-Fitr. The ban began to take effect on Friday, April 24, at 00:00 WIB.

However, the ban does not apply to the transportation of logistics, drugs, officers, fire engines, ambulances, and hearses.

The regulation bans public vehicles, private vehicles, and motorbikes from entering and departing from regions enacting the Large Scale Social Distancing (PSBB) measures and regions demarcated as COVID-19 red zones, such as Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi.

The mudik ban applies until May 31, 2020, for land transportation; June 15, 2020, for railway transportation; June 8, 2020, for sea transportation; and June 1, 2020, for air transportation.

ANTARA