Raids to deal

Raids to deal
with women
trafficking

Emmy Fitri
The Jakarta Post
in Jakarta

The police are planning to raid housemaid recruitment agencies
that are believed to be used as a cover for the trafficking of
women, especially underage girls, for prostitution.

The decision was made on Thursday following a crackdown on an
agency in Mangga Besar, Central Jakarta, and Cempaka Bar in
Pejagalan, North Jakarta, on the previous day. Three people were
arrested for allegedly being involved in the crime, while 17
women who had become victims of the illicit business were freed
by the police.

North Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Andi Chaeruddin said
that police had received reports about several housemaid
recruitment agencies believed to have frequently supplied girls
to middlemen, who would later sell them to nightspots or massage
parlors.

"I suspect the business is run by a syndicate that operates
widely in the capital," Andi told The Jakarta Post.

Police from the Penjaringan subprecinct arrested on Tuesday
three people for their alleged part in the trafficking. They were
identified as Iskandar, 46, owner of Cempaka Bar, Dju Dju
Ardasih, 45, owner of Yayasan Karya Setiawan, the housemaid
recruitment agency, and Hartadi, 35, a staff member at the
agency.

Andi said the three were still being intensively questioned by
Penjaringan police to find out if they were working with other
groups.

The three are being questioned for allegedly violating Article
296 of the Criminal Code on indecent conduct, and Article 297 on
trading in under-age boys and girls, according to Andi.

Article 296 carries a maximum sentence of a one-year-and-four-
month jail term or a Rp 15,000 fine, while anyone guilty of
violating Article 297 could be sentenced to six years in jail at
the most.

Police made the arrest after receiving a report from 17-year-
old Laila. She said she had been deceived by Iskandar, who
offered her a job as a housemaid with a high salary, about three
months ago.

However, the girl who hailed from Ciledug, Banten, said she,
along with several others, was forced to work as a prostitute in
Cempaka Bar, which was owned by Iskandar.

Mostly aged under 17, the girls told the police that they did
not receive any salary from the bar's management. They received
only tips given by their guests, who were charged around Rp
50,000 per night for the girls' services.

The girls came from various places like Pekalongan, Central
Java, Jember, East Java and Lampung. They were mostly "trapped"
as soon as they arrived in Jakarta at bus terminals, where people
offered them a job as a domestic helper with a high salary.

Andi agreed that trafficking in women, which was rampant here,
was a familiar problem.

"This is definitely not a new crime. We know about the
practice but the problem is such that the crime is hard to detect
as the victims are reluctant to report their unlucky fate," he
said.

Last week, police reportedly raided a house in Lemahabang,
Bekasi, where five women had been held before being employed as
prostitutes. Two other women were arrested for their alleged part
in the crime.

Police suspected that the victims, who were promised jobs as
factory workers or housemaids, would be sent to nightspots in
Batam.