SEVENTEEN ARRESTED FILIPINOS TURNED OVER TO IMMIGRATION

Jakarta, Aug 21 (ANTARA) - Police have turned over 17 Filipino Muslim preachers arrested in Central Java recently to the immigration service for violating visa rules, a spokesman said.

"They proved not to be involved in criminal activity or terrorism but they violated immigration rules and so their case is now being handled by immigration," National Police Headquarters' spokesman Insp Gen Nanan Soekarna said here Friday.

The 17 Filipinos entered Indonesia with short-visit visa but spent their time in the country on religious activity, delivering sermons in mosques without permission from the Religious Affairs Ministry, he said.

Police picked up nine of the group from a mosque in Banyumas and the eight others in Surakarta, Central Java, after suspicious locals had reported their sudden presence.
Before coming to Central Java, the Filipinos had spent some time in Jakarta with the same agenda.