Abdul Khalik and Theresia Sufa

Abdul Khalik and Theresia Sufa
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta/Bogor

Ten young children from Nias, brought to Jakarta on Tuesday
without proper documents, will soon be returned to their parents,
pending identification of their families and addresses in the
earthquake-ravaged island.

Jakarta police said on Thursday that the children were
currently staying at the government-run orphanage in Bambu Apus,
East Jakarta.

"All of them are healthy. After discussions with the ministry
of social affairs, we decided to put them in an orphanage under
the ministry's auspices," Comr. Edi Tambunan, chief of women and
children affairs at the city police, said.

He said that his team and a local non-governmental
organization (NGO) in Nias were now trying to locate the parents
because nobody else had the right to take care of them.

Jakarta police arrested on Tuesday four people identified as
Hendra, Hikua, Yohana and Halana. They then took the 10 children
away from them the group after they had all arrived together at
Tanjung Priok port, presumably after taking the children off of
Nias.

The children have been identified as Adil Putra Jaya Lombu, 3,
Fiberman Lombu, 7, Pontianu Lombu, 4, Beziduhu Lombu, 6, Jois
Dorkas Orienti Lombu, 4, Yuferius Lombu, 8, Miralina Lombu, 7,
Yujuniman Lombu, 7, Jhoni Alexander Hululu, 5, and Dirman Pati
Yulianu Ulu, 7.

The police discovered that the four adults did not have the
necessary documents to take the kids from Nias island.

Suspecting that the four were part of a child trafficking
syndicate, with the intention to sell them overseas, the police
detained them and interrogated them.

It was found that the four were staff members from a group
called the Youth Foundation (YWAM) based in Cipayung, East
Jakarta and the Nation's Hope Foundation (YHB), based in Parung,
Bogor, where the children were headed.

"After interrogating them for hours we had to release them as
we found that other people had told them to bring the children to
Jakarta. However, we are still keeping an eye on them. We suspect
two men identified as Edo and Benni were responsible," Edi
surmised.

The officers here also contacted the Nias police and a local
NGO to locate the two men, he said.

Edi added that the police had not declared any suspects in the
case as they were still searching for more evidence.

Meanwhile, the Bogor police arrested on Thursday YHB's
chairwoman Yuniati, alias Aryanti, for illegally caring for nine
children from Nias, one from Pontianak, one from Kupang and one
from Palembang.

"We discovered that the foundation had no permits. So, they
have no right to keep the children. They said that they were
going to help the children go to school, but we don't care
because they have no permits to take care of the children,"
avowed Parung subprecinct chief Adj. Comr. Rudi Hartono.

Rudi added that they would charge Yuniati with Article 9 of
Law No. 23/2002 on child protection.

Fears of child trafficking also grew following the Dec. 26
tsunami, which displaced hundreds of thousands of families.