Eight Indians held for illegal entry
Eight Indians held for illegal entry
JAKARTA (JP): Immigration officers acting on a tip-off
arrested eight Indian nationals in Depok, West Java, for entering
Indonesia using forged visas, very likely aided by the service of
an illegal immigration syndicate.
The director for immigration supervision, M. Indra, said in a
statement on Wednesday that his men raided their hiding place in
Depok on Tuesday.
Indra identified the eight Indians as Avtar Singh, Sharminder
Singh, Hartup Singh, Daljit Singh, Iqbal Singh, Amardep SIngh,
Gurdial Singh and Gurjit Singh.
He explained that his office received information about the
arrival of the eight Indians in Jakarta from the Batam
immigration office in Riau.
He speculated that the captured Indians had benefited from the
service of an international syndicate transporting illegal
immigrants from developing countries to developed countries such
as Australia, Britain or the United States.
"Avtar Singh is a member of the syndicate that arranges their
travel," Indra said, adding that the detained Indians used
Indonesia as a transit point before traveling to a third country.
He noted that Avtar Singh cooperated with a number of local
companies to arrange the travel of Indians from India to
developed countries using Indonesia as a transit point. They are
PT Mina Panca Sejahtera, PT Deha Cemerlang and PT Samudera Surya
Abadi.
Avtar Singh and his Indonesian counterparts would produce
forged passports for those Indians already arriving in Indonesia.
They would then travel to a third country using Indonesian
passports.
Some of them had even secured U.S. visas and were ready to go,
Indra said.
Avtar Singh, according to Indra, charged each Indian US$4,500
for the visa. The total cost to bring them to a third country
could reach US$50,500.
Indra noted that the forgery of Indonesian passports was on
the rise during the past few years. Hundreds of forged Indonesian
passports had been produced during the last three years.
"This is very serious," Indra said, adding that the
immigration office was currently preparing the issuance of new
passports with increased security, and thus, they could not be
easily forged. (rid)