Police detain 3 drivers for extorting of migrants

Police detain 3 drivers for extorting of migrants

TANGERANG (JP): Tangerang Police detained on Tuesday evening
three private minivan drivers for extorting money from eight
Indonesian female migrant workers (TKW) employed in Saudi Arabia,
who were on their way back to their hometowns in Central Java.

Police chief of detectives Insp. Chandra Sukma Kumara said
that after the extortion attempt, the drivers left their victims
stranded near the Kampung Rambutan bus terminal, unable to
continue their journey.

The three drivers were identified as Atip, 22, Dani, 31 and
Iskandar, 31, residents of Kampung Rambutan, East Jakarta, who
worked for PT Ranam, one of 11 transportation companies entrusted
by the Ministry of Manpower to transport homecoming Indonesian
migrant workers to their hometowns.

According to the workers, some 45 minutes after the minivan
left the airport, the three drivers, who were to drive them to
Pati, Central Java, dropped them at a house belonging to Yanto on
Jl. Tanah Merdeka, behind Kampung Rambutan bus terminal.

"When we arrived at the house, three men waiting there ordered
all of us to hand over our cheque books, dollars and (Saudi
Arabian) reals. They said if we refused, they could not guarantee
our safety on the way to our villages," Solekah, 24, one of the
workers who has spent 2 years in Saudi, told The Jakarta Post.

Solekah, who was on her way to visit her family in Tegal Aren,
Ranggen, Central Java, said she then handed over US$1,785 and 140
real to one of the men, and was given Rp 12,800,000 (US$1,505) in
exchange.

Another worker, Yanti, 30, a resident of Sragen, who has also
been working for 2 years in Saudi Arabia, said she gave US$800
and received Rp 5,700,000 (US$671) from the man.

Iaini, 21 also told the Post that she handed over US$1,917 to
the man and received Rp 13 million (US$1,529) in return.

Only three of the workers claimed to have been the victims of
extortion.

One of the drivers, Atip, said that before picking up the
workers, he had been ordered by the minivan owner, a man called
Syahrul, to bring the workers to Yanto's house on Jl. Tanah
Merdeka.

"We don't know anything about the extortion inside the house
because when the workers entered the house, we just waited
outside. But after leaving the house, the police suddenly stopped
us," he said, adding that he had frequently dropped workers at
the house before they were taken to their villages in Central and
East Java.

Chandra added that the police were conducting operations
against private minivans transporting workers from the airport to
their hometowns in Java based on a request from the airport
police concerning alleged extortion and forced currency exchanges
victimizing Indonesian migrant workers.

He said the police failed to catch the main suspects in the
crime as they had escaped by the time the police arrived at the
house.

Earlier in the day, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport
police chief Insp. Suari Wahyudi disclosed that she had also
arrested on Aug. 30 two drivers working for PT Koperjati, a
similar company to PT Ranam, following a complaint from a migrant
worker named Sinah, a resident of Ngawi, East Java.

The drivers were Sudirman, 44 and Yayat, 29, who are also
residents of Kampung Rambutan.

Sinah claimed that her passport was taken by the drivers after
she refused to exchange her dollars with a man called Joko at the
Kartika restaurant in Subang, West Java, on Aug. 23.

Suari said that the forced exchange of foreign currency
involving Indonesian migrant workers had long been taking place.
But the police had yet to arrest the people involved in the
crime.

Suari said that the police had no strong legal grounds for
making arrests as the crime involved a tight-knit network in
which the suspects managed to escape before the police could
identify them. (41)