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.