Team to probe prostitution case

Team to probe prostitution case

JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta Police have formed a special team to investigate allegations a young area woman was lured into prostitution on Batam Island.

The investigation follows a report from Samin, a man living in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, that his daughter was forced into prostitution on the island of Batam.

"We are now making arrangements to apprehend members of a suspected syndicate," a West Jakarta police officer told Suara Karya daily.

West Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Made Mangku Pastika, was not available for comment when The Jakarta Post tried to contact him by telephone.

The team was formed after Samin reported that his daughter Sani, a junior high school student, came home from Batam and told him that she had been duped into becoming a prostitute on the island.

Samin said Sani told him that her neighbor in Cengkareng, a middle-aged woman named Mila, had promised her a job in Batam as a waitress, with a monthly salary of Rp 200,000 (US$90.86). But shortly after her arrival on the island she was sold to a woman and used as a prostitute.

Sani said she never received any money from either of the women.

Sani managed to escape from Batam and return to Jakarta.

Police then arrested Mila at her home. She later confessed that she took Sani to her friend named Yetty, who in turn took Sani to Batam.

Mila said Yetty gave her Rp 300,000 for Sani.

Yetty is also in police custody.(mas)