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The National Police on Friday said they have named an Egyptian national a suspect in a case involving the trafficking of Indonesian workers to Yemen.

Chief Comr. Eko Danianto, the head of the National Police’s anti-trafficking unit, told the Jakarta Globe that the suspect, identified as Essam Yahia Aly Hassan, was believed to have trafficked at least six Indonesian workers to Yemen.

“We arrested him while he was being investigated by the Tangerang Police over another human trafficking case,” he said.
Hassan, he added, possessed an Egyptian passport.

Eko said the National Police had refused Hassan’s application for bail.

“We cannot approve the application. We will keep him in custody until the trial,” Eko said. “He will face trial here instead of being deported to his home country.”

He said the police uncovered the case when Hassan’s alleged victims, all men from Jakarta, arrived at the Indonesian Embassy in Yemen.

Hassan, 38, could be charged under the Law on the Eradication of Trafficking in Persons and the Law on the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers Abroad. He could also be charged under the 1992 Law on Immigration.

Indonesia does not recognize Yemen as an official destination country for migrant workers.

Official destinations include Hong Kong, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

A government ban on domestic helpers and laborers being sent to Malaysia is still in effect in light of a number of abuse cases and ongoing concerns over workers’ safety, as well as their recourse to the Malaysian judiciary.

In December, the National Police arrested six members of a family for allegedly trafficking at least 50 Indonesian workers into the autonomous region of Kurdistan, northwest Iraq.

They were arrested at their house in Cimanggis, Depok.

Those arrested were identified as the alleged mastermind, Lailasari, her husband, Kusparwanto, her father, Hasan C Rosyana, and her uncles, Anwar Sanusi, Dayat Hidayat and R Sumartono.