Police thwart sending of illegal migrants

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: The Kupang Police have foiled an attempt by a local manpower recruitment agency to send illegal migrant workers to Malaysia.

Kupang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Nugroho said that his officers were holding 42 migrant workers from Sumba Island in East Nusa Tenggara province for questioning following a raid on a boat tied up at Kupang Port at dawn on Thursday.

Paulus Ngongo, one of the migrant workers, said that the migrant workers were to be sent to Nunukan, East Kalimantan, where they were to enter Malaysia.

He said that he had paid Rp 85,000 (US$8.9) to a local manpower recruitment agency, which had promised to transport him to Nunukan and provide him with immigration documents to allow him to work in the neighboring country. -- JP