164 passports lost this year<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The number of foreigners losing their passports
\nhas fallen from 517 in 1995 to 446 last year and to 164 in the
\nfirst five months of this year, an official said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Justice's director of immigration supervision,
\nZaiman Nurmatias, attributed this downward trend to last year's
\narrests of people involved in passport forging syndicates.<\/p>\n
Zaiman said that most foreigners who claimed to have lost
\ntheir passports and other immigration documents reported to the
\nimmigration office as soon as they had obtained substitute
\ndocuments from their embassies.<\/p>\n
"Our investigation shows that they entered Indonesia legally,
\nmeaning they all came through our immigration counters," he told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Zaiman said that foreigners who lost passports or immigration
\ndocuments had mostly come from Singapore, Australia, the United
\nStates, Netherlands, England or Japan.<\/p>\n
Most passports had gone missing in Jakarta, Yogyakarta,
\nSurabaya or Bali, Zaiman said.<\/p>\n
He said that passport forging syndicates stole immigration
\ndocuments to sell them to people wanting to immigrate or work in
\na third country.<\/p>\n
Syndicates sold original visas for US$2,000 each and forged
\nvisas for US$3,500 each to people wanting to go to Australia or
\nEuropean countries, he said.<\/p>\n
Stolen passports were usually from the United States, European
\ncountries or Australia. They gave people from Africa, the Middle
\nEast or Asia the chance to seek work in a third country, he said.<\/p>\n
Zaiman urged foreigners to beware of the syndicates, which
\noften operated in shopping centers and pubs in Jl. M.H. Thamrin,
\nCentral Jakarta, in Blok M, South Jakarta, and other public
\nplaces.<\/p>\n
"Also beware of those claiming to be tour guides. They prey on
\nforeigners at the international Soekarno-Hatta Airport," he said.
\n(aan)<\/p>",
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