11 Indonesians deported

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said the other day that it has deported 11 Indonesians who were recently arrested in the country for their involvement in the hijacking of two vessels from Sumatra.

Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr. said the 11 have been sent back to their homeland last Thursday after the bureau ordered their summary deportation.

The aliens, who were fetched at the Davao airport by Indonesian police and brought back to Manado, Indonesia, have also been blacklisted and banned from re-entering the Philippines, said Fernandez.

In his report, BI boarding section chief Jose Carandang identified the foreigners as Bayu Arden Mahardika, Muhamad Furqah, Achmad Abdulmaji, Hariyanto, Hariono, Ricar Daniel Panjaitan, Bornok Ricardo, Suwandi Siagan, David Sarira, Bernard Labene and Oscar Dalegi.

Last May 15, nine of the eleven were arrested in Maco, Compostela Valley by joint operatives of the BI and Police Maritime Group. Labene and Dalegi, on the other hand, were arrested by policemen in Cebu City.

Carandang said the Indonesians were crewmen of the Indonesian tugboat Martha Dini that left Sumatra for Kalimantan but was diverted to Cebu.

Indonesian authorities who coordinated with the BI said the seajacking incident was carried out by the suspects who were led by a Singaporean national identified only as a Mr. Lee.