TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Arrests follow discovery of Filipino sailors with Indonesian IDs
Change Size
A vessel caught fishing illegally in Natuna waters in Riau Islands is sunk on Aug. 17. (POOL/Dokumentasi KKP)
N
orth Sulawesi Police have arrested two people suspected of involvement in counterfeiting Indonesian ID cards for 11 Filipino sailors caught on board a fishing vessel.
The arrest was a follow up to a raid on illegal fishing in September by joint task force Satgas 115, which stopped the D’Von in the waters of North Sulawesi. On board the D’Von, the task force found 11 Filipinos holding Indonesian ID cards issued by Bitung municipal administration.
Following further investigations police arrested the owner of the D’Von, identified only as DL, and an official in Bitung Population and Civil Registry Agency, identified only as NL.
Bitung administration spokesperson Erwin Kontu said they would punish officials who were found to have helped counterfeit the ID cards. “The regulations say we can fire them, and now the case is in North Sulawesi Police’s hands, it is a legal process,” he said Friday.
“Other civil servants must learn a lesson from this case,” he said.
North Sulawesi Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Marjuki said fake ID cards played a role in illegal fishing by Filipinos in North Sulawesi waters.
“DL paid Rp 2.5 million [US$191] for each ID card. NL made the ID cards and got Rp 500,000 per card,” said Marjuki.
Marjuki did not explain where the remaining Rp 2 million went. (evi)
