REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TUAL -- Forty-five boat crew members from Myanmar employed by PT Pusaka Benjina Resources are currently being questioned by police in Maluku in connection with a human trafficking case.

The Myanmar citizens were taken from the PPN Tual where they have so far been temporarily accommodated after being evacuated from Benjina on the Aru islands to the Southeast Maluku police resort on Sunday.

The head of the Fishery and Marine Resource Surveillance station (PSDKP) in Tual, Asep Supriadi, confirmed the interrogation was done in connection with the human trafficking case in Benjina.

"They (the Myanmar citizens) have not been deported because the police still need them for information regarding the Benjina case," he said.

At least 358 Myanmar citizens who have worked in Benjina so far have already been evacuated to Tual in connection with alleged slavery.

The immigration office in Tual has sent hundreds of crew members from Myanmar and Cambodia leaving 45 crew from Myanmar and eight from Laos.

Asep said the eight crew members from Laos have been taken to the immigration office in Tual ready for being dispatched to their home country.

"We are waiting for travel documents from their country's embassy. Perhaps in two weeks' time they will have been deported," he said.

So far seven people have been named suspects five of them Thais in connection with the alleged human trafficking case.

The case was first reported by Associated Press in an article titled "Was Your Seafood Caught By Slaves?".

The report was accompanied by video recordings showing jails and graves believed to have foreign crew bodies in Benjina.

Hundreds of crew members from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos who have been evacuated to Tual admitted that they had been tortured and forced to work hard without an adequate wage nor health service when they fell ill so far and wished they could be sent to their home countries.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika