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“One worker reported to the BP2MI and explained the illegal departure,” Benny said on Friday
as quoted by kompas.com.

After receiving the report, the Medan BP2MI coordinated with the local police to secure the
migrant workers, consisting of three people from Padang Sidempuan, North Sumatra, two people
from Singkawang, West Kalimantan, and one person from Batuampar, West Kalimantan.

In an investigation conducted by the National Police’s human trafficking task force, the workers
said they had been offered jobs in Cambodia by their relatives and had been promised a monthly
salary of Rp 4 million (US$268) and a $250 meal allowance.

Benny said documents, tickets and $60,000 had been confiscated by the National Police’s
Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) for further investigation.

He added that the migrant workers would be sent to their respective homes.

In a separate development, the

BP2MI repatriated 52 workers who were stranded without pay in Saudi Arabia, an official said
on Thursday.

Benny said the agency arranged the repatriation of the workers after news of their situation went
viral on social media. They returned to Indonesia on Thursday evening.

The workers had been sent to Saudi Arabia illegally, he said, adding that he suspected they were
victims of human trafficking.

“In a video uploaded on YouTube, the migrant workers were stranded in Saudi Arabia because
they had not been paid by their employers since 2018. They also demanded that their placement
agency afford them their rights,” Benny said, as reported by kompas.com on Thursday.

The BP2MI coordinated with the Indonesian Embassy in Saudi Arabia to repatriate the migrant
workers.

After their arrival in Jakarta, the agency found that 31 of the workers were not listed in the
BP2MI records. They said they had been dispatched to Saudi Arabia by private placement
agencies, namely El-Safah, Putra Timur Mandiri and Anugrah Sumber Rezeki. They had all
worked as domestic workers.

“The BP2MI will soon report to Bareskrim as we suspect the companies were illegal placement
agencies, allegedly engaged in human trafficking,” he added.

The agency has quarantined the workers to comply with COVID-19 health protocols and will later
provide them passage to their hometowns.

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