Five Uzbek women nabbed for working as prostites
Five Uzbek women nabbed for working as prostites
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Instead of picking up foreigners found to be misusing their
visas for acts of terrorism, the police stumbled upon an
international vice ring following the arrest of five Uzbek women
on Tuesday night working as prostitutes at several locations
across Jakarta.
"The women were caught red-handed in a hotel room in Mampang,
South Jakarta, and at apartments in Central Jakarta and Sunter,
North Jakarta, while servicing customers," said chief of the
foreigner supervision division of the city police, Adj. Sr. Comr.
Luki Hermawan.
The women will be charged with violating immigration law and
involvement in improper activities, Luki said.
Police also confiscated two bras and lingerie belonging to two
of the suspects, saying they were being kept as evidence.
"They must undergo police investigation of their crimes in
accordance with Article 281 of the Criminal Code. After that,
they might face deportation soon after they have served their
sentences," said Luki.
According to the code, those who have committed crimes
considered to violate propriety, including disseminating
pornographic material, are subject to a maximum of two years and
eight months in prison.
Besides the five Uzbek women, police also detained five
Indonesian suspects: two marketing staff, two secretaries and one
car driver, who also served as a bodyguard.
"We are hunting down the owners of PT Abadi Kartika Makmur,
A.S. and Y.O., who are suspected of running the business," said
Luki, adding that both suspects, who are still at large, were
known to be Chinese-Indonesians from Medan, North Sumatra.
"We suspect that there is an international vice ring
organizing prostitutes, including foreigners here," Luki said,
citing that police also found photo albums featuring a number of
women, including citizens from the Netherlands, Poland, Russia,
Venezuela, Taiwan, Spain and the Ukraine.
Luki revealed the arrest was part of a city police initiative
to check alleged misuse of tourist visas by foreign visitors
following recent intelligence allegations that some foreigners
had misused their visas for terrorist attacks or other unlawful
purposes.
During the investigation, Luki remarked, the police had found
out that each foreign sex worker was paid Rp 3.5 million for
every hour of service provided.
The five women refused to be interviewed. "Please, leave us
alone. Please ... we're not animals," one of them asserted.
Earlier last month, police also arrested five Chinese women at
a discotheque in Taman Sari, West Jakarta. They were deported to
China, charged with misuse of tourist visas.