Indonesia has deported 92 Chinese suspected scammers and barred them from the country for life in one of the biggest mass exercises in recent years.
The Chinese nationals had been arrested in May in connection with an alleged online gaming and investment fraud syndicate operating from a flat complex in the holiday island of Batam, the Jakarta Globe reported. Others arrested came from Vietnam and Myanmar.
Galih Kartika Perdhana, head of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport’s immigration office, told the newspaper that Sunday’s mass deportation was carried out at the formal request of the Chinese government.
Beijing covered all transport and operational costs and sent a special team to escort the deportees, who left on a China Southern Airlines flight bound for Guangzhou, Galih said.
Special operational procedures were applied to ensure the deportation did not affect regular passengers.
“We applied a dedicated immigration clearance process, from biometric identity verification to escorted boarding,” he said. “The procedure was specifically designed to ensure the smooth repatriation of all 92 detainees while minimising disruption to regular airport operations.”