Palu, C Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Immigration authorities will summon the sponsor of seven problematic expatriates arrested in a raid in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu last Sunday.
"Their fate will largely depend on the sponsor," Head of the Palu Immigration Quarantine Office Yusuf Sadu said here on Tuesday.
He said his office had summoned the companies employing the seven expatriates. But he stopped short of revealing the names of the companies saying they were based in Jakarta and Medan.
"If in the near future the sponsor of the seven expatriates has not come to the office they will most likely be quarantined," he said.
Immigration officers arrested the seven expatriates in the location of an electrical relay station of state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) on Jalan Mohammad Hatta in Palu last Sunday, but they were not detained.
They are now staying at a hotel in Palu but under tight surveillance from the immigration officers. "But if their main sponsor does not come to report to the immigration office at the given time the expatriates from India and the Philippines will be taken to the immigration detention center," he said.
The expatriates are still allowed to install generators at the electrical relay station in Bukit Jabal Nur area in East Palu.
During the raid they could only show the immigration officers their passports and visit visas which can only be used for the purposes of tourism, socio-cultural mission and business talks.
Under the law, the expatriates are required temporary permits of stay issued by immigration authorities and expatriate employment permits issued by the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry.
If found guilty, they can be sentenced to one year in jail and fined Rp5 million under Law No. 9 of 1992.
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