Immigration Confirms Passports Scattered in BSD Were Expired, Only Covers

The passports found scattered near the BSD bus stop in Serpong, South Tangerang, have been confirmed to be expired. This was revealed by the Head of the Tangerang Immigration Office, Hasanin, based on his office’s investigation and coordination with the Serpong Police. “Based on the initial examination, all of these passport covers no longer have biodata pages or inner pages. Moreover, what was found were only the covers,” Hasanin stated on Tuesday (9/6). Hasanin said his office received around a hundred of the viral passport covers from the Serpong Police. His office has coordinated with the Regional Office of the Ministry of Hajj for South Tangerang to obtain information and conduct a deeper investigation into the discovered documents. “The evidence received consisted of 129 used covers of Republic of Indonesia passports and one Republic of Indonesia passport that had expired,” Hasanin explained. “Based on the results of this coordination, it is known that the evidence found is indeed old, invalid passports belonging to Hajj pilgrims who have already departed and are under the responsibility of the Regional Office of the Ministry of Hajj for South Tangerang,” he continued. Hasanin added that his office is also coordinating with the Regional Office of the Ministry of Hajj for South Tangerang to trace the case of the scattered passports. “We urge the Regional Office of the Ministry of Hajj for South Tangerang to evaluate the mechanism for returning old, invalid passports of Hajj pilgrims, so that a similar incident does not recur in the future,” Hasanin said. Hasanin also urged the public to keep their passport documents properly and safely, as a passport is an official state document that must be correctly safeguarded by every owner. Currently, the evidence of 129 passport covers that were found has been handed over by the police to the Tangerang Class I Non-TPI Immigration Office for further action.