Illegal labor export probed

Illegal labor export probed

JAKARTA (JP): City police are continuing their investigation into two illegal attempts to send 10 Indonesian women to work in Saudi Arabia and Brunei Darussalam last month.

Chief of the Association of Labor Export Companies, Mahfut Djaelani, said yesterday that five of the women, registered as staff of PT Damas, were to be flown to Saudi Arabia. The other five, which had been organized by an agent in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, were to be flown to Brunei Darussalam. The 10 women were arrested by airport security staff on Nov. 2, Mahfut told The Jakarta Post.

Police are still attempting to discover the whereabouts of the unregistered company and agent. They are also looking for people believed to have been involved in the unlawful labor export scheme in Subang, West Java, and Cilacap, Central Java, the two hometowns of the 10 women.

The association is now arranging to dispatch the women to their destinations through legal procedures.

"We won't let them be disappointed, for they have sacrificed their property in their hometowns to pay the agents," he said.

Djaelani said he had sent all of the women back to their respective hometowns to prepare their identity documentation and other papers for immigration procedures. (03)