Authorities have arrested a man who was caught on video extorting a female Indonesian foreign worker (TKW) upon her return to the country.
A viral clip showing the incident was reportedly filmed on Oct. 25, when the worker was about to undergo mandatory quarantine at the Wisma Atlet Pademangan facility in North Jakarta. Filmed from inside a car, a man in a brown vest and donning sunglasses without a face mask was seen asking for parking fee.
After he was given some amount of money, he was seen to have asked for more, which prompted the woman to tell her driver to give him IDR50,000 (US$3.51) so that he would let them pass.
North Jakarta Police Chief Guruh Arif Darmawan said they had arrested the suspect, identified as 39-year-old MS AKA L, last night. Guruh explained that MS was a parking attendant at the quarantine facility who collected the fee outside of the official rate, adding that he worked on his own.
“From what he confessed, the money went into his own pocket,” Guruh said today.
Police are still questioning MS at the Pademangan Sub-Precinct to determine his motive, including the possibility of other parties being involved in the crime.
“The official parking rate is on an hourly basis, but he didn’t want to be paid [with the official rate], so he asked for IDR50,000.”
TKW, especially women, are often the target of much larger extortion by officials and other unscrupulous individuals upon their return to Indonesia.
