JAKARTA — Two Indonesians and five Thai nationals have been arrested and accused of human trafficking connected with slavery in the seafood industry, police said.
Pol Lt Col Arie Dharmanto, Indonesia's national police anti-trafficking unit chief, said said Tuesday that the arrests were made Monday and Friday in the remote island village of Benjina. Five Thai boat captains and two Indonesian employees at Pusaka Benjina Resources, one of the largest fishing firms in eastern Indonesia, were taken into custody.
The arrests come after The Associated Press earlier this year reported on slave-caught seafood shipped from Benjina to Thailand where it can be exported and enter the supply chains of some of America's biggest food retailers.
"They have committed an extraordinary crime, and we will not let it happen again in Indonesia," Pol Lt Col Dharmanto said. ''We will not stop here. We will pursue those who are involved in this case, whoever they are."
Police will recommend they be charged by prosecutors. If the men go to trial, they could face jail sentences of up to 15 years and fines as high as US$46,000, he said.
He said the number of suspects would likely climb because authorities are still investigating how thousands of foreign fishermen from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand were put on fishing boats in Thailand -- sometimes after being tricked or kidnapped -- and brought to work in Indonesian waters and not allowed to go home. Many said they were beaten and forced to work up to 24 hours a day with inadequate food and unclean water. Most were paid little or nothing at all.
Pol Lt Col Dharmanto said authorities planned to fly all the suspects to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, after the investigation is completed. Police were still questioning the company's security guards, who were also expected to be named as suspects, he said.
He said police probe found that hundreds of foreign fishermen were recruited in Thailand and brought to Indonesia using fake immigration papers and seamen books where they were subjected to brutal labour abuses. The suspects are accused of locking fishermen up for one to six months in a prison-like cell located in the company's compound in Benjina.
Police have seized five fishing boats allegedly used by the suspects for human trafficking and slavery-like practices as well as dozens of fake passports and seamen books.
Lt Col Dharmanto said the arrests were made after police questioned more than 50 foreign fishermen from Myanmar and Cambodia along with 16 witnesses, including company employees, immigration and port officials.
The yearlong AP investigation found that tainted fish can wind up in the supply chains of some of America's biggest food sellers, such as Wal-Mart, Sysco and Kroger. It can also find its way into the supply chains of some of the most popular brands of canned pet food, including Fancy Feast, Meow Mix and Iams. The companies have all said they strongly condemn labour abuse and are taking steps to prevent it, such as working with human rights groups to hold subcontractors accountable.
In April, a week after the story was published, Indonesia's Fisheries Ministry made a dramatic rescue when officials loaded more than 300 slaves and former slaves in Benjina onto six fishing boats for a 17-hour overnight voyage to the island of Tual where they have since been housed at a makeshift camp near the port.
With 59 Cambodians leaving to return home Monday, most of those remaining are from Myanmar, otherwise known as Burma, but a few are also from Laos. More than 200 others have also been identified in Benjina and are waiting for travel documents to go home as well.
