Indonesia Deports 27 Cambodians

Pontianak, W Kalimantan (Antara Bali) - Indonesia deported 27 Cambodians who have so far been held at the Immigration Detention Center in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Monday.

"The 27 Cambodians flanked by six detention center officials were taken from the Supadio airport in Pontianak to Soekarno-Hatta airport in Cengkareng," head of the Immigration Detention Center, Suganda, said here.

He said the 27 Cambodians were taken to Jakarta where they were received by Cambodian embassy officials and immediately flown home to their country in the afternoon.

"The Cambodians that we deported are fish poachers and victims of human trafficking. Now there are still 37 foreigners from Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan at the immigration detention center in Pontianak and they will also be deported soon," he said.

There are also 196 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Palestine at the center "but we do not know for sure when they will be deported to their home countries awaiting confirmation from their embassies," Suganda said.

The head of immigration division of the West Kalimantan office of the ministry of justice and human rights, Malfa Asdi, said the 27 Cambodians who were deported were victims of human trafficking in their home country and later employed to poach fish in the Indonesian waters.

"They are all boat crew while their skippers are currently still undergoing a judicial process," he added.

He said he hoped embassies of the foreigners who are currently being held for violating the immigration law to immediately arrange their return so that they would not stay at the detention center in Pontianak too long because the place has been over capacity. (WDY)