Inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Following the recent case of human trafficking (TPPO) in Batam, the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD has announced his plan to visit the location and investigate the matter.

"Yes, I will be flying to Batam next Thursday to conduct an investigation," he confirmed on Monday (3/4/23).

The Minister explained that the victims were lured with the job opportunities abroad and were provided with free passports. His primary focus during the visit would be to investigate the center that offers these free passports to the victims.

"(The victims) had been sent to work on ships abroad and were not paid for their work," he said. In addition, the victims were subjected torture, and in some cases even dumped into the sea after their dead.

In a previous statement, he did not deny the allegation that that the human trafficking syndicate had intentionally sunk ships carrying Indonesian migrants to evade the police.

The allegation emerged after an investigation by the Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers into the death of Indonesian migrant workers in a sunken ship in the Johor Baru Sea on December, 15 2021.

(ndt/hn/um)