Indonesia Continues to Repatriate Victims of Trafficking from Cambodia

TheIndonesia.id - The Indonesian government continues to gradually repatriate the hundreds of citizens who fell victim to alleged trafficking in persons (TIP) case, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed.

As reported by Antara, 14 Indonesian citizens arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang on Monday, August 8, at 6.05 p.m. local time.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will later hand them over to the Ministry of Social Affairs for rehabilitation and reintegration to their respective families,” statement from the Ministry read.

The returning Indonesian citizens consisted of 12 men and two women from North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Jakarta, Banten, and West Kalimantan.

They were repatriated by the Ministry and the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh after they had become victims of trafficking through social media. It was confirmed by authorities before that 53 Indonesians were held in confinement in the city of Sihanoukville after being victims of a fake investment company.

“The Indonesian Embassy has contacted the Cambodian Police to ask for help to evacuate while maintaining communication with the Indonesian citizens. The police is currently undertaking handling efforts,” director of citizen protection at the Ministry Judha Nugraha said on July 28.

And on Monday, Nugraha updated that the number of Indonesian migrant workers who fell victim the online scam had risen to 232 people.

The previous batch of Indonesian citizens previously arrived from Cambodia on August 5 and 6, and in total, 39 people have been repatriated.

“The rest of them will be repatriated gradually by taking into account flight availability, Cambodian police’s investigation, and administration process at Cambodian immigration office,” the Ministry said.