Indonesian Immigration Arrests 4 Foreigners Using Fake Passports Suspected of Trafficking Network

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Soekarno-Hatta Airport Immigration arrested four foreign nationals who were caught using fake passports and visas. They are suspected to be part of a human trafficking network.

The four individuals are MHAA from Iraq, FAB from Sudan, and IH and MA from Syria. They were arrested while at the Soekarno-Hatta Immigration Checkpoint.

"There is a strong suspicion they have faked their passports and visa travel documents," Soekarno-Hatta Airport's Immigration Office chief Subki Miuldi said on Tuesday, February 20.

Subki said that the four foreign nationals each had different destinations and motives for falsifying immigration documents. "The Iraqi was going to fly to Amsterdam, the Sudanese came to Indonesia for tourism and the two Syrians planned to go to Germany," said Subki.

MHAA was arrested when trying to leave Indonesia for Amsterdam on board Garuda Indonesia's flight GA88. "MHAA was found to have used a fake United Arab Emirates passport and was charged under Article 119 paragraph 2 of the Law 6/2011 on Immigration," said Subki.

FAIA, a Sudanese citizen, was arrested while trying to enter Indonesia using a fake 211A visit visa. FAIA flew in on board Etihad Airways flight EY474. Immigration officers suspected him of using fake passports and visas.

The two Syrian citizens, IH and MA were caught committing immigration violations when they arrived at Soekarno-Hatta Airport using Emirates Airlines flight number EK356. During immigration checks, they both showed Bulgarian passports and e-Visa on Arrival documents. But further checks showed that they actually already had visit visas in the names of IH and MA, which they applied for using Syrian passports. Officers also found a driver's license for MA issued by Turkish authorities.

Human Trafficking Suspicions

Arfa Yudha Indriawan, head of Intelligence and Immigration Enforcement at the Soekarno-Hatta Immigration Office, suspects that the four foreigners are part of an international human trafficking network.

Arfa suspects these four individuals were trying to use Indonesia as a transit country before continuing their journey to the Netherlands and Germany.

JONIANSYAH HARDJONO

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