Immigration Office Secures 129 Passport Covers Found Scattered in BSD

The Tangerang Class I Special Non-TPI Immigration Office has secured 1erb 129 used Republic of Indonesia passport covers and one expired passport that recently went viral after being found scattered in the BSD Bus Stop area, Jalan Letjen Sutopo, South Tangerang, Banten.

“The evidence received consists of 129 used passport covers and one passport that has expired,” stated the Head of the Tangerang Immigration Office, Hasanin, in a statement on Tuesday (9/6).

Hasinin explained that the handling of this matter began following information circulating on social media regarding a pile of passports found in the South Tangerang area. Following up on this, the Intelligence and Immigration Enforcement Division (Inteldakim) immediately conducted a check at the scene on Sunday (7/6).

“Although officers no longer found the pile of passports at the location, they discovered two passport covers where the biodata pages and contents were missing, along with one Hajj deposit slip,” said Hasanin.

Subsequently, the Tangerang Immigration authorities coordinated with the Serpong Police Station on Monday (8/6). The pile of documents had previously been secured and handed over to the police before being transferred to the Immigration Office for further action.

Based on an initial examination of the 129 secured passport covers, Hasanin noted that all of them no longer contained biodata or content pages.

“Further coordination with the South Tangerang Regional Office of the Ministry of Hajj confirmed that all these documents are old, invalid passports belonging to pilgrims who have already departed,” said Hasanin.

“These documents fall under the responsibility of that institution,” he added.

Currently, the South Tangerang Regional Office of the Ministry of Hajj is conducting an internal investigation to determine the chronology of how these old documents escaped supervision and ended up scattered on the streets.

In light of this incident, the Tangerang Immigration Office has urged the local Ministry of Hajj to evaluate the mechanism for returning old passports of pilgrims to ensure such an event does not recur.

Furthermore, Immigration has also reminded the general public to always take good care of their passports. As official state documents, passports must be stored correctly and securely by every owner, even after their validity has expired.