Police and Immigration at Soekarno-Hatta Thwart Departure of 32 Illegal Hajj Pilgrims

Tangerang (ANTARA) - A joint team from the Police and Immigration at Soekarno-Hatta (Soetta) Airport, Tangerang, Banten, has once again successfully prevented the departure of 32 individuals suspected of attempting to perform an illegal Hajj pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

“This effort was carried out at Terminal 2F on Friday (15/5) at approximately 17:30 WIB,” stated the Chief of Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police, Kombes Pol Wisnu Wardana, in Tangerang on Monday.

He explained that the discovery began when Immigration officers detected 32 passengers on flight ID7157 on the Jakarta–Singapore route. The Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police subsequently acted upon the findings presented by the Immigration officers.

Based on the results of the investigation, Wisnu stated that police obtained varying statements from the prospective pilgrims, some of whom claimed they were travelling for a holiday to Hainan, China.

Further examination by the investigative team revealed that 26 individuals claimed they were participating in a six-day tour package to Hainan, China, organised by ‘Travel F’ at a cost of Rp15 million per person. Payments were transferred directly to the travel agency’s account, and the group was accompanied by a tour leader identified as E M.

Meanwhile, five other individuals openly admitted that their primary objective was to perform the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Two of them, a married couple from Ponorogo with the initials DA and KA, had registered through ‘Travel T M’ at a cost of Rp250 million per person after seeing information on TikTok.

In relation to this, the Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police investigation team also managed to interrogate the ‘tour leader’ acting as the Operational Manager of the travel agency. The investigation indicated that his role was strictly to accompany the tour to Hainan.

“The Operational Manager of F Travel, with the initials EM, claimed his only duty was to accompany the holiday trip to Hainan. He stated he was unaware that many participants were using Saudi Arabian work visas, as the travel agency did not handle the visa processing,” he said.

As a result of these actions, the suspects face charges under Article 124 of the Law on Hajj and Umrah (carrying a maximum prison sentence of eight years), Articles 122 and 121 of the same law (carrying a maximum prison sentence of six years), and/or Article 492 of the new Criminal Code regarding fraud (carrying a maximum prison sentence of four years).