Navy foils trafficking attempt

Navy foils trafficking attempt

Fadli, The Jakarta Post/Batam

Officers from the naval base in Tanjung Balai Karimun, Riau
Islands, have foiled an attempt to smuggle two babies into
neighboring Singapore.

Naval base commander Lt. Col. Bambang T. Wahyudi told The
Jakarta Post on Saturday that the alleged human trafficking of
the two weeks-old babies took place on Friday, when Navy
personnel in a patrol boat from the Leho naval security post in
Tebing district became suspicious after they saw a small motor
boat appear out of the mangroves off Tanjung Sebatak.

"The Navy men tried to approach the small boat but it sped
away. The patrol boat then chased it and fired a warning shot.
After the second warning shot, the small boat slowed down and the
two suspected traffickers fled into the mangroves," according to
Bambang.

He said that due to the officers unwillingness to chase them
through the mangroves the suspects got away.

The crew members, Chief Sgt. Seken D. and Chief Pvt. Hartono
discovered the two infants, both about a month old, in a fish
container on the boat, said Bambang

"We believe that the babies were going to be sold in
Singapore, judging by the route they were trying to take. The
case has been handed over to the police for further
investigation," he said.

The infants, one boy weighing 4.5 kilograms and one girl of
three kilograms, were sent to Bakti Timah hospital on Karimun
Island for treatment.

Tanjung Balai Karimun Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Muhammad
Jufri confirmed that his office had received the report from the
Navy about the baby trafficking attempt.

"We have already found some clues to identify the suspects. We
also know where they got the babies from," Jufri explained.

Based on their preliminary investigation, one of the babies
was taken from a brothel in Tanjung Balai Karimun, most likely
the child of one of the sex workers there.

Jufri said the police had also confiscated the speed boat as
evidence.

He also admitted that the number of baby trafficking cases in
Riau Islands province had increased dramatically of late.

"The police will make every effort to get to the bottom of
this case. Hopefully, the we can find and arrest the people in
the syndicate, which is likely behind most of the trafficking. We
will try to arrest all the perpetrators in order to identify
their network and capture the syndicate's leaders," Jufri vowed.