POLICE HAND OVER 58 CHINESE, TAIWANESE NATIONALS TO BATAM IMMIGRATION

Batam, Riau Islands, June 26 (Antara) - The Riau Islands Provincial Police have handed over 58 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals accused of being involved in a fraud syndicate to the Batam immigration office for further investigations. "It is the immigration office that has the authority to handle the 58 foreign nationals after they were found violating immigration rules," Director of General Crime Detective Unit at the Riau Islands Provincial Police Sen. Comsr Adi Karya Tobing said here on Friday. Although they ran the syndicate in Batam, it targeted citizens of China and Taiwan, he said. "We are still studying the possibility of them committing the crime against Indonesian citizens. But we have found no indication yet, so they were handed over to the immigration authorities," he said. He said Taiwan sent its investigators to determine whether Taiwanese citizens have been involved in the syndicate. Col Jey Lee of Taiwanese Interpol, who was in Batam, did not provide much information about the arrest of Taiwanese citizens. "I don't want to comment on it very much. I came here only to determine whether some of them are Taiwanese nationals," he said. Local immigration authorities are still studying whether they all will be deported to their countries or processed in Indonesia.