Tourism Pretext to Abroad: Three Illegal Hajj Pilgrims Prevented from Departing YIA

Immigration traffic officers from the Class I Special Operations Immigration Office in Yogyakarta have foiled the departure of three Indonesian citizens (WNI) suspected of intending to perform the Hajj pilgrimage illegally via Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA). The three were detected as Subjects of Interest (SOI) with maximum scores in the immigration surveillance system.

The Head of the Class I Special Operations Immigration Office in Yogyakarta, Tedy Riyandi, stated that the perpetrators were detected as having suspicious track records during checks in the immigration system. The three individuals are suspected of carrying out the Hajj worship in a non-procedural manner under the guise of overseas tourism.

“This delay in departure is a serious effort on our part to protect citizens,” said Tedy in his statement on Friday (8/5/2026).

The revelation of this case is the result of border crossing surveillance conducted by officers over the past two weeks. The first case was uncovered on Saturday (25/4/2026), when officers examined a man with initials MDM who claimed to be travelling to Singapore for tourism. However, through the surveillance application, MDM was detected as an SOI subject with a score of 100 or the maximum score. The system indicated that MDM had a history of previously attempting to depart for Jeddah through another border gate but failed.