There was no divine intervention after all for six Eastern Europeans who were apprehended in April for squatting in a villa in Mengwi. You may remember them as the recalcitrant group who claimed that the house was a gift from God.
Five of the six – all from Moldova – were officially deported yesterday, while one, 24-year-old AD from Russia, was sent home in September.
The Head of the Bali Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Anggiat Napitupulu, said that the Moldovans are from one family, namely 44-year-old DD, 36-year-old EE, 32-year-old, EE, 10-year-old DM, and six-year-old AE.
“The case was reported last March where they [together with AD] trespassed a villa belonging to a local,” Anggiat said.
“The owner and Pererenan village authorities went to see them but they insisted that the villa belonged to them and was given by God.”
The deportation process took longer than expected after DD’s passport was reportedly destroyed in a fire while EE’s passport went missing. The foreigners, Anggiat said, also refused to cooperate with the authorities. Finally, after nine months, they relented and were willing to be sent home to their country.
Authorities in Bali worked with the Embassy of Moldova in Tokyo to process their deportation.
The family boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Moldova via Istanbul last night. In addition to the deportation, the squatters were also temporarily banned from entering Indonesian soil.
