Illegal taxi operators still active at airport

Illegal taxi operators still active at airport

TANGERANG (JP): Indonesian workers returning home from abroad
are still being targeted by unlicensed taxi operators working at
arrival gates of Terminal A and B at Soekarno-Hatta International
Airport, an official said.

"The unlicensed operators usually pretend to be relatives of
the workers who go to the airport to pick them up," Arifin Razak,
head of the Soekarno-Hatta Airport authority, said on Friday.

"They (the unlicensed operators) start following the workers
as soon as they arrive at the arrival gates of Terminal A and B,
where people have their immigration documents and luggage
checked," Arifin said.

He denied any airport officials were involved. Instead, he
hinted that officials from the Ministry of Manpower and labor
supply firms were the ones taking advantage of the workers.

Arifin said the people targeted their operations at workers
who had problems with their immigration documents or had no
knowledge of the exit procedure at the airport.

They then offer workers rides home, at fares higher than the
authorized rates.

"They charge the workers Rp 500,000 (US$62.50) to Rp 1.5
million in fares for every five workers who require
transportation services to areas within Greater Jakarta," Arifin
said.

"They charge higher rates for workers wanting to go to their
homes in areas outside Greater Jakarta, such as Indramayu and
Karawang, both in West Java."

Reports say the operators provide unlicensed taxis to
transport the workers home.

Several areas such as Jl. Hussein Sastranegara, Mandira and
Rawa Bokor, all in Benda subdistrict in Tangerang, are known as
transit spots of unlicensed taxis.

"Names such as Musa, Girin, Aling and Lim have long been
identified by people here as operators who like to cheat female
workers from the West Java towns of Cianjur, Indramayu, Ciamis
and Sukabumi," H. Hamid, a local community leader of Benda
subdistrict, said.

"Even the police know about their activities," he said, adding
that he himself had been escorting three workers, who had been
cheated by operators of unlicensed taxis, to their homes in
Tasikmalaya, West Java.

He said the operators had also been spotted using a local
government car for their operations. (41/edt)