14 caught without passports

JAKARTA (JP): Fourteen Sri Lankans were arrested for allegedly having no passports when immigration officers raided a rented house in Bangun Reksa Indah II housing complex, Ciledug, in Tangerang.

The director of supervision and control at the Directorate General of Immigration, Zaiman Nurmatias, said the 14 people were arrested Saturday.

"We nabbed them after receiving a report from residents in the area," Zaiman said in a statement Monday.

The report, which was received several days before the arrest, indicated that some foreigners were living in the house.

The immigration officers, accompanied by the neighborhood chief, visited the house -- which was rented by a man called Rajen -- and found the 14 people.

They were identified as Rohini Tharmaligam, 26, Kumuthini Shanmugalingam, 31, Soryakala Rajendran, 22, Kavitha Thurairasah, 22, Vanitha Mohanasunatharam, 22, Sivashakty Shanmugaligam, 23, Valarmathy Sellathamby, 23, Vaithiligam Thirumal, 25, Thayanthan Kandasamy, 22, Prakanth Mahallingam, 12, Vanusah Mahalingam, 32, Kirisath Mahalingam, 32, Vijaya Kumari Mahalingan, 32 and Gengatharan Kandasany, 32.

"Only three of them have passports. They all entered the country with tourist visas through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport," Zaiman said without identifying the three passport- holders.

The other 11 people claimed that their passports and tickets were in the possession of someone in Bali.

Zaiman said the man holding their passports was believed to be a member of a syndicate which promised to change their passports into Canadian documents.

The group admitted that they did not want to work here but planned to go to Switzerland and Germany, he said.

The syndicate had charged them US$1,000 each for accommodation and travel costs.

On Feb. 26, the immigration officers also arrested 15 Sri Lankans at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for traveling without passports. The group claimed that the head of their group had the passports.

On March 3, an unidentified motorcyclist threw the group's passports into the Sri Lankan Embassy's compound. (jun)