Police nab women-traffickers

INDRAMAYU, West Java: A police special team here have arrested two suspects in connection with a women-trafficking syndicate, officers said on Monday.

Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Hadi Sutedjo told reporters here that suspected trafficker Dulaman bin Mad Ngarip, 46, of Kedungdawa, Indramayu, and buyer Tumari, 38, of Sawahan, Surabaya, were apprehended while they tried to smuggle seven women from the Indramayu village of Cipedang. The suspects admitted they were smuggling the women, aged 20 to 25 years old, to Losari port, east of Cirebon.

Chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Jidin Siagian said Tumari was a pimp who had just opened a new brothel in Dolly street, Surabaya. She had bought the women for Rp 1 million (US$109) each.

The suspects are charged under Law No. 29/1997 on women- trafficking, which carries a maximum penalty of six years' imprisonment.

Indramayu is well-known as a source of women traded or smuggled to become commercial sex workers. --JP