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Nusa Dua, Bali. Human trafficking is becoming increasingly linked to other crimes such as terrorism and narcotics smuggling, the National Police chief said on Tuesday.

Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi, speaking on the sidelines of the Fourth Bali Regional Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime being held in Nusa Dua, said Indonesia was no longer just a stepping- stone for illegal immigrants traveling to Australia.

He said there had been a noticeable increase recently in the number of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers deciding to stay, at least temporarily, in Indonesia, mingling with the general population and even marrying locally.

“These are people who have lost most of their hopes,” Ito said. “Just to get money to guarantee their survival, they would not object to becoming drug mules.”

Indonesia, with its strategic location bridging mainland Asia and Australia and its porous maritime borders, has in recent years become a popular stopover for many illegal immigrants and asylum seekers from countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan trying to reach Australia.

“We cannot monitor them all,” Ito said. The officer added that the tendency of Indonesians to be welcoming toward newcomers made it easy for them to blend in with the population.

An added danger, Ito said, is that with many of these people coming from conflict-torn countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, some of them might have bomb-making or other weapons’ skills.

“If in their own country they cannot take revenge, they may do so in our country. The targets are the people who are their enemies,” he said.

Even if the police manage to arrest illegal immigrants, holding them is problematic as current detention facilities tend to be loosely guarded. Last October, 52 illegal immigrant fled the Kalideres Immigration Detention Center in West Jakarta.

Ito said international cooperation involving the source and destination countries of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants was vital in putting an end to human trafficking.

International cooperation could also help provide facilities and equipment needed to address the problem. Ito cited the example of four patrol boats recently provided by Australia.

“This coming June, these ships will be deployed at locations that are highly prone to being used in people smuggling and trafficking, that is: Batam, Kupang and Pelabuhan Ratu,” he said.

Batam, an island just south of Singapore, provides an easy point of entry into the country while Kupang in West Timor and Pelabuhan Ratu in West Java are areas that human traffickers have used in the past to arrange boat transportation to Australia.

The conference will be officially opened today by the two co-chairmen — Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and his Australian counterpart, Kevin Rudd.

Representatives from 41 countries are expected to attend, as well as officials from nongovernmental organizations.

The Bali Process, established by co-chairs Indonesia and Australia in 2002, attempts to find practical measures to help combat people smuggling and trafficking in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.