JOHOR BARU: Crossborder human traffickers have taken to TikTok to openly advertise "transport" services to undocumented Indonesians in Malaysia looking to return to their country.
Those behind the speedboat service would, for a price, ferry those in Selangor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Johor to various destinations in Indonesia including Batam, Dumai and Bengkalis Island.
The trips, which were advertised for those travelling without passports or with expired visas, are priced between RM1,500 and RM2,200.
"Don't worry about your well-being or security. God-willing everything will be under control until (you) reach (your) destination," read a claim on the video, which has gone viral.
The services in TikTok, advertised by a human trafficking syndicate, also gave migrants a choice of returning to their country via jalur depan (legal) or jalur belakang (illegal), the latter often involving the use of rat lanes or offering bribes to bypass official procedures.
However, the syndicate's brazen activities have not gone unnoticed and are being monitored by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
Johor MMEA director First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria said the current syndicate is a splinter of a much larger group that used to operate in the area.
The main syndicate's mastermind, known as Acing@Susanto, was responsible for smuggling thousands of illegal migrants to and from Indonesia for the past decade.
His syndicate was responsible for three major boat tragedies off Johor's waters in Teluk Balau (2021), Teluk Ramunia (2022) and Pontian (2022). Those accidents claimed the lives of some 35 people.
Acing, who was aided by a henchman known as Bursa, was arrested by Indonesian authorities in 2022 with intelligence shared by Johor MMEA.
Nurul Hizam said the smugglers' preferred routes were mostly along east Johor.
"We have enhanced our enforcement and patrolling along these identified routes," he said, adding that MMEA was working closely with their Indonesian counterparts on the matter.
Johor Immigration Department acting director Mohd Faizal Shamsuddin said operations to detain undocumented migrants were ongoing.
"We urge the public to share any information they have that can help us in our enforcement efforts," he said.