Police Arrest 834 Suspects of Trafficking in Persons

Jakarta, MINA – Indonesian Nasional Police (Polri) continues to arrest the perpetrators of the criminal case of Trafficking in Persons (TIP). In total, 834 people have become suspects in this case until July 20, 2023.

Karo Penmas, Public Relations Division of the National Police, Brigadier General Pol Ahmad Ramadhan, said that the data was recorded based on the results of the Analysis and Evaluation (Anev) of TIP Handling of the Working Unit of Bareskrim Polri and Regional Police for the period 5 June to 20 July 2023.

“There are 702 police reports, the number of victims of TIP is 2,154, the number of suspects is 834,” Ahmad told reporters on Friday as quoted from Liputan6.

He detailed the modus operandi used by the perpetrators of human trafficking, among others, as if they were channeling domestic workers as well as 477 illegal Indonesian Migrant Workers, 9 crew members or crew members, and 208 commercial sex workers.

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“For the exploitation of children as many as 53 people,” said Ahmad.

Previously, the police revealed obstacles in investigating the international syndicate’s kidney sale and purchase case. One of the reasons is because the kidney transplant operation process between the donor and the recipient takes place in a Cambodian government hospital.

The Head of the International Relations Division (Kadivhubinter) of the National Police, Inspector General Krishna Murti explained, in principle, cases of the crime of trafficking in persons (TIP) always interact with the international community. He detected this crime occurring in several countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and several countries in Europe

The Hubinter Div in this case coordinates facilitating investigators, both Bareskrim investigators and Polda investigators.

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Krishna admits that he is facing a very complicated challenge in facilitating investigators investigating the international syndicate’s kidney sale and purchase case.

Krishna explained, the difficulty was that there was no understanding regarding the case of the crime of trafficking in persons (TIP) both within the domestic environment, especially institutional ministries, including the Indonesian Embassy.

“Some think that this has not been a crime, but we are sure that this has been a crime,” he said in his statement on Thursday.

In addition, the criminal act of buying and selling kidneys is carried out in a hospital which is authorized under the control of the Cambodian government.

“There was an execution, the kidney transaction was in a government hospital,” he said.

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Krishna explained that this would then become the record of Div Hubinter to communicate with higher authorities such as the Prime Minister’s special staff to ask for help repatriating the victims of TIP.

“We also communicate closely with the Cambodian police. We also communicate closely with Cambodia’s Interpol. Thank God this case was revealed,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Director of General Criminal Investigation of Polda Metro Jaya, Kombes Hengki Haryadi, confirmed that there was no understanding on TIP being one of the obstacles. Moreover, in Cambodia it is not necessarily the same as a crime there, even though this is a double crime.

“There are also acts against crime because in 2014 there was also a crackdown at this hospital and officials in Cambodia were arrested there,” said Hengki. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)