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)