18 Illegal Hajj Pilgrims from East Java Prevented from Departing for the Holy Land
The Surabaya Special Class I Immigration Office (TPI) in East Java has prevented the departure of 18 Indonesian citizens suspected of attempting to perform the Hajj pilgrimage illegally or through non-procedural means.
Agus Winarto, Head of the Surabaya Immigration Office, stated that the interception occurred during monitoring activities between 1 and 8 May 202 Mitigating. The group, consisting of 8 men and 10 women, hails from several regions, including Bangkalan, Sampang, Banjarmasin, Kuala Kapuas, Semarang, Gunungkidul, and Bone.
Agus noted that the 18 prospective pilgrims were attempting to travel via a Surabaya-Kuala Lumpur route before continuing to Saudi Arabia. The suspects employed various methods to deceive officers, such as pretending to be tourists in Malaysia or claiming they were returning to work in Saudi Arabia using work visas and residency permits (iqama).
However, following in-depth inspections, strong indications were found that their true purpose was to perform the Hajj without official procedures. Each of the 18 individuals admitted to paying varying amounts, ranging from hundreds of millions of rupiah, to cover costs including tickets and document processing. Some reported paying between Rp200 million and Rp290 million to third parties for tickets, hotels, visas, ‘tasreh’, and ‘nusuk’ permits. Some passengers even claimed that their ‘tasreh’ and ‘nusuk’ documents would only be provided upon arrival in Malaysia or Saudi Arabia.
In one instance, officers discovered a passenger who was already on the ‘Subject of Interest’ (SOI) list, having previously had their departure delayed at Soekarno-Hatta Airport for similar suspected violations. The immigration transit application system assisted in detecting passengers with identical ‘HIT SOI’ scores, pointing towards non-procedural Hajj attempts.
As a follow-up, the departure of all passengers suspected of non-procedural Hajj was delayed for further investigation by immigration officers. Surabaya Immigration has urged the public not to be enticed by offers of non-procedural Hajj departures that promise ease without official channels, as these carry risks of financial loss and legal issues in the destination country.
Agus added that immigration officers will continue to strengthen surveillance against potential non-procedural Hajj departures to protect the public from legal risks, fraud, and complications abroad. This surveillance is conducted through in-depth interviews, passenger profiling, travel document inspections, and the use of integrated immigration application systems across all Immigration Checkpoints (TPI).