REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Immigration Office of Batam, the provincial city of Riau Islands, foiled a passport scam this month to obtain passports for 84 allegedly illegal migrant workers, an official stated.

The head of the Batam Immigration Office, Teguh Prayitno, said here on Tuesday that the passport application was refused as part of the efforts to combat human trafficking crimes. "We suspected that of the 84 applicants, some could have even committed terror activities because no clear goal was stated while applying for the passport," he disclosed in a written statement received here on Tuesday.

He explained that some time ago, a number of vessels had met with accidents in the Riau Islands, leading to deaths. Some illegal workers had gone missing in these accidents.

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