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akarta Police announced they had arrested a new suspect in an alleged case of kidnapping, molesting and trafficking of at least 96 children in the Thousand Islands regency.

The suspect, who was not named, is a resident of Purwakarta, West Java. Police claim he was one of 18 people involved in a children trafficking ring run by the main suspect, Sartono, who was arrested earlier this month.

Sartono told investigators he had committed the acts on at least 96 children. Thousand Islands Police said Sartono’s behavior spanned 17 years.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharudin Djafar said the city police would work with the West Java Police in investigating the latest suspect.

“The suspect will testify as a witness in Sartono’s trial and vice versa,” Djafar said Thursday, adding that the suspect was being held in custody by Purwarkarta Police.

Djafar said the suspect admitted to having molested children on two occasions after paying Sartono Rp 75,000 (US$8.3) and Rp 50,000.

Police identified one of the children, who allegedly ran away from home. Djafar said the child was molested by Sartono before being sold off.

Police arrested Sartono at a motel on Harapan islet early January, rescuing Rul, a 14-year-old boy who was kidnapped by Sartono and had been missing since Nov. 25, 2010. Sartono had allegedly sodomized Rul and forced him into prostitution by selling the boy to other men.

Sartono told police he remembered the names of 16 children he molested and sold. The police claim that in the last two years, Sartono molested 54 children.

Sartono told police that he had kidnapped, molested and sold 42 children prior to 2008, most of whom were street children between the ages of 14 and 17 who lived in the vicinity of Purwakarta train station, Cikampek train station and Kampung Bandan train station.

On Jan. 11, police brought Sartono to the locations of his alleged crimes in Serang, Banten, to reconstruct
the events.

Last year, Jakarta were gripped by reports of the sadistic murder and sexual abuse of dozens of children — mainly street kids — by two pedophiles.

Baekuni, a street vendor, confessed that he had sexually abused his victims before killing them. The man, who was under police investigation primarily for mutilating a 10-year-old boy, admitted to killing 12 children in total. Baekuni said he mutilated his victims in an attempt to cover his tracks.

In a similar case last year, a man known by street children only as “Abang Kaca Mata”, reportedly sodomized 15 children.