Tangerang. The plane carrying 20 Indonesian nationals who fell victim to a human trafficking ring in Myanmar landed at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang early on Friday after a flight from Manila.

Officials from the Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Agency (BP2MI), the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and the National Police welcomed the evacuees who arrived at 02:06 a.m. after a delay of five hours.

They were taken to the safe house and trauma center for human trafficking victims in East Jakarta. Police have said they planned to interrogate the victims to complete the investigation after several Indonesians were named suspects in the case.

Five more Indonesians evacuated from the trafficking ring are still undergoing questioning at the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok before they are allowed to return home.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said earlier this month authorities had rescued dozens of Indonesians from a human trafficking scheme in Myawaddy, Myanmar.

The victims were Indonesian job seekers who got duped into working as online scammers for crypto sites or apps.

During a recent ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called for member countries to combat the rampant problem of human trafficking across the region

“Matters that relate to people’s interests become a great concern for the [ASEAN] leaders, including the protection of migrant workers and human trafficking victims,” Jokowi said. 

“I call on ASEAN countries to take firm action against the main perpetrators.”