Pair on human trafficking charge

Indonesian authorities have arrested a husband and wife they say were part of a smuggling syndicate who held captive 12 illegal Bangladeshi men who were promised work in Australia.

These type of fishing boats have been used for people-smuggling.

Indonesian authorities have arrested a husband and wife they say were part of a smuggling syndicate who held captive 12 illegal Bangladeshi men who were promised work in Australia.

Police in North Sumatra said a group of 17 Bangladeshi nationals – some without passports – entered Indonesia through illegal maritime routes and were driven to Padangsidimpuan, a city in North Sumatra about 50km from the Indian Ocean.

They were promised work in Australia by an agent in Bangladesh, but upon arriving in Indonesia, the couple informed them that their trip to Australia was cancelled and they would instead be sent to Malaysia.

Padangsidimpuan police chief Wira Prayatna said the couple, identified as MSR, a 38 year-old Bangladeshi man and NS, his 32 year-old Indonesian wife, demanded additional payment of the equivalent to about $2700 for a possibility of going to Malaysia instead.

“Initially, they were promised work in Australia, but the reality was that they were transiting through Indonesia. They were not taken to Australia,” Mr Prayatna said.

“Once they arrived in Padangsidimpuan, out of the 17, five of them were able to leave, because MSR told them that they would not be sent to Australia, but could be taken to Malaysia after they paid the ransom.”

The Bangladeshi nationals had been in Padangsidimpuan for about three days when a joint team of police and military raided the house around midnight on Wednesday.

The operation followed a tip-off from the local community about the whereabouts of the foreign nationals.

The suspects are charged with human trafficking with penalties of three to 15 years in prison.

Last week, local police in Rote Ndao, Indonesia’s southernmost islands bordering Australia, detained 15 Bangladeshi men who were part of a group trying to reach Christmas Island on a fishing boat but were intercepted and later turned back by the Australian Border Force.

This group of people also told police that they transited in North Sumatra for a month before they travelled south to Java and boarded a fishing vessel ­towards Christmas Island.