25th August 2022 – Two Chinese citizens are arrested and threatened with 5 years prison time and IDR 500 million fine for entering and living in Indonesia with fake passports.
They are Wu Jinge (36), who was confirmed to enter and stay in Indonesia with a fake passport and Chen Yongtong (34), who can’t show his passport.
I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram, the Director of Immigration Supervision and Enforcement, stated that they could face a maximum of 5 years in prison with an IDR 500 million fine.
They were confirmed to have used a fake passport. Both of them entered Indonesia on 16 January 2022 using Mexican passports. Immigration has received a clarification from the Mexican Embassy that both of the Chinese citizens’ passports are not registered.
Chen Yongtong and Wu Jinge are currently being held in the Central Jakarta Class I State Detention Center since 10th August.
For their actions, Chen Yongtong and Wu Jinge violated the same article, namely Article 119, but with a different verse.
Mataram also said that the use of fake passports is revealed when Immigration suspects Wu Jinge’s extension of visit residence permit (ITK).
The extension was done at Immigration Office Class I Immigration Checkpoint (TPI) East Jakarta on 12th April 2022. Wu Jinge was represented by a mandarin translator from a travel agency. Immigration then called Wu Jinge to the office for further checking. After that, Immigration got another name, which is Chen Yongtong.
Mataram stated that both of them entered Indonesia together.
Furthermore, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China has confirmed that Chen Yongtong and Wu Jinge are their citizens. Both of them have admitted to having a Mexican passport since 2019, which they bought from an unknown intermediary.
The reason for using a Mexican passport is to lighten the journey to another country. As the Chinese passport is only available to a few countries.
