The North Aceh District Military Command foiled an attempt of 14 Rohingya refugees to flee a temporary refugee camp at the vocational training center in Meunasah Mee Kandang Village, Muara Dua Sub-district, Lhokseumawe, early Friday.
"It is true that 14 refugees had attempted to flee early this morning, but security officers of the Rohingya refugee camp managed to foil the attempt," spokesman for the Rohingya Handling Task Force Lieutenant Colonel Am Oke Krisyanto stated.
The military personnel also arrested eight suspected members of a human trafficking ring allegedly smuggling Rohingya immigrants into Aceh, he noted.
Three of the eight suspected members of the human trafficking ring are identified by their initials as DA, ZA, and JR. DA is a resident of Medan, North Sumatra; ZA is a Rohingya immigrant residing in Medan; and JR is a resident of Aceh Tamiang.
"JR is believed to be the driver of a rented car to be used to help DA and ZA transport the Rohingya refugees," he revealed.
Military personnel also arrested the other suspected members of the human trafficking ring identified by their initials as AM and SA, and SR and SU, respectively married couples, and P, AM's younger brother-in-law.
Early this morning, we arrested two groups of suspected members of a human trafficking ring. It is believed that the two groups do not know each other," he stated.
Krisyanto noted that the eight suspected members of the human trafficking ring and 14 Rohingya refugees were transferred to the Lhokseumawe City Police for further investigation.
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