EAST KALIMANTAN: Police in East Kalimantan’s Nunukan district investigating a human trafficking case plan to question witnesses from Malaysia, the district police chief said on Thursday, according to The Jakarta Globe Report.
The case involves the trafficking of eight female minors from Java to Malaysia, where they were forced to work in the sex industry. An Indonesian suspect, Herman, has been arrested. His wife, Lasmiati, has also been named a suspect but is still on the run.
“We will bring members of Herman’s network to Nunukan and will coordinate with Malaysian authorities on this case, as Herman’s partner, Musa bin Haris, has been sentenced to five years in jail for human trafficking,” Nunukan district police chief Adj. Comr. Ardian Rahayudi said.
Herman was arrested at his home in East Java’s Nganjuk district on Aug. 24 and was transferred to Nunukan on Aug. 30. He remains in police custody there.
Herman and his wife are alleged to have recruited the girls and sent them to Tawau in Malaysia’s Sabah state to work in the sex industry. The girls were promised high-paying jobs in restaurants or as maids.
“The victims were sent through Nunukan, accompanied by the suspect and his wife. They did not know they were to be put to work as sex workers there,” Ardian said.
The ring was broken up when the eight victims were picked up during an immigration operation in Tawau. They were sent back to Nunukan and then their hometowns. “The eight victims were questioned and the case was developed,” Ardian said.
He said that despite the close cooperation between the police, the immigration office and other authorities in Nunukan, the district continued to be a stepping- stone for human traffickers to smuggle people into Malaysia, mostly to be put to work in the sex industry.