Batam immigration catches foreigners

BATAM, Riau: The local immigration office said on Friday it had prevented 129 foreigners from entering the country through Batam over the last two months.

The foreigners include 47 Iraqis, while others were from India, China and Singapore, immigration official Wachdiyat was quoted by Antara as saying.

He said most of the foreigners were prevented from entering the country because they possessed either a fake visa or were using an expired passport.

Wachdiyat said Batam was a strategic entry point to Indonesia because it was close to Singapore.

"We are continuing to increase our monitoring to prevent such illegal entries. We're also doing our best to tighten checks at our ports," he said. (04)