Police seize 658 porn movies

JAKARTA (JP): Police confiscated yesterday 658 pornographic laser and compact discs and arrested 46 people in simultaneous raids on several rental shops, the City Police spokesman said.

Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said at least five places were raided yesterday, including one at Glodok Plaza, Glodok Bridge, Mangga Dua and Roxy, all in Central Jakarta.

According to Lt. Col. Prasetyo, the chief of detectives for general affairs, about 200 officers were involved in the operation.

"Among the confiscated evidence were 473 compact discs, 175 laser discs, 20 TV sets, one computer and Rp 413,000 in cash," Prasetyo said at his office last night.

The cash, Prasetyo said, was collected from the customers who were watching the films in exclusive rooms provided by the owner of a laser disc rental store on Jl. Mangga Dua 91C, Central Jakarta, where the police seized 109 discs.

"The owner of the rental store on Jl. Mangga Dua had 20 rooms with television sets where customers could watch movies for around Rp 3,000," Prasetyo said, adding that 40 of the 46 people arrested in yesterday's raid were customers.

"The remaining six people were just employees. We are still looking for the rental store's owner and will continue raids on illicit rental stores to reduce the circulation of pornographic movies," he said. (04)