Bogus journalists extort hookers

CILACAP, Central Java: Police here arrested on Wednesday four allegedly bogus journalists on charges of trying to blackmail four sex workers at a local hotel.

The police said one of the suspects claimed to be a policeman, calling himself Iding Suwardi, 30, from the Bandung district police station in West Java, by showing a fake identity card.

Suwardi also claimed to work for the Warta Indonesia Reformasi publication, while his three colleagues claimed to be journalists with the Patroli Weekly bulletin.

The police said the arrests followed a report by a pimp who told them that the bogus journalists refused to pay for services given by the four prostitutes. Showing a fake police identity card, the men even extorted the sex workers.

The suspects are currently in detention at the Cilacap police station.--JP