Brothel busted, customers arrested

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta Police detained 79 prostitutes along with 21 male customers on Thursday evening during a single raid at Hotel Paripurna on Jl. Hayam Wuruk.

Following the raid, the police temporarily sealed off the unrated hotel, which had run a prostitution business with impunity for years at the back of the three-story building.

Central Jakarta Police detectives chief Maj. Budiono Sandi said his office had been tipped-off by residents that the three- story hotel was clandestinely offering prostitutes, operating under the guise of offering massages.

"We detained them (the girls and their customers) in a bid to collect more information about this illegal business.

Our main targets are the pimps, the godfather and the hotel owner," Budiono said.

The police, he said, have already identified four pimps and the owner of the hotel, known as NS.

"We will nab them tonight."

The prostitutes, mostly still in their early twenties, and the customers were taken away from rooms, several of them see-through glass rooms used to exhibit the girls.

Budiono added the raid was conducted as a follow up to the city's governor instructions last week to close down nightspots that were being used as venues for prostitution, gambling or drug use. (01)