Tribratanews.polri.go.id - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia stated that it was repatriating 12 Indonesian citizens (WNI) who were victims of job placement fraud in Cambodia, Friday (5/8).
"This morning 12 Indonesian citizens who were victims of online scamming were repatriated," said the Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens and Indonesian Legal Entities of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Judha Nugraha, during a virtual conference on Friday (5/8).
In the first batch, the 12 people arrived safely at Soekarno Hatta Airport on Friday night, August 5, 2022.
Judha explained that the authorities prioritized women and vulnerable groups, which were few in number due to flight limitations. Upon arrival in Indonesia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will coordinate with ministries or agencies related to the rehabilitation and process their return to their respective families and will process the law enforcement against the perpetrators. "The 12 victims were temporarily hospitalized in a safe house," continued Judha.
For the next batch, Judha hopes to repatriate Indonesian citizens on Saturday, tomorrow. Apart from the return of the Indonesian citizens who were victims of fraud in Cambodia, the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, conveyed several things related to this fraud to the Cambodian Foreign Minister, Krolaham Sar Kheng, in Phnom Penh on Thursday (4/8).
Retno expressed the need to accelerate the repatriation of the victims, to handle similar cases in Cambodia, and to take steps to prevent TIP.
She also encouraged the immediate completion of the RI-Cambodia memorandum of understanding (MoU) negotiations regarding the eradication of transnational crimes. "The memorandum of understanding will be the basis for closer cooperation to eradicate TIP cases, especially in terms of prevention, protection of victims, law enforcement against TIP perpetrators, and policy coherence in handling TIP,” said in one the official statement of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Krolaham welcomed Retno's proposal. He supports efforts to accelerate the repatriation of Indonesian victims and encouraging the completion of the MoU negotiations between the two countries. Not long ago, dozens of Indonesian citizens became victims of job placement scams in Cambodia. They are forced to commit fraud or scamming bogus investment companies.
