Dwi Handy Pardede said that his client, identified by her initials, SAS, claimed that her captor said she would be sold to someone in Batam, Riau Islands.

“We strongly believe that they belonged to a syndicate. Perhaps they aborted the plan to send the victim to Batam because of the media coverage about the missing girl,” Dwi said.

The captors of SAS took her from a house in Parung, Bogor, and left her at the Depok bus terminal on Monday, where local residents recognized her from flyers distributed by her family. The girl, a junior high school student in Depok, befriended a man named Den Gilang or Yugi on Facebook last month, according to Dwi.

Yugi, a public minivan driver, seduced the teen online before convincing her to meet on Sept. 23, when he took SAS to a rented house in Parung, Dwi said.

For one week, according to the lawyer, Yugi allegedly raped SAS, threatened to kill her and forced her to have sex with other men under the influence of alcohol.

SAS said that Yugi promised to give her an “allowance” of Rp 300,000 (US$32), but instead took her cellular phone and used it to buy meals and cigarettes.

According to Dwi, Yugi moved her to three other places in Bogor to avoid the police. SAS said she saw several other girls held captive by Yugi and his accomplices.

Depok Police chief Sr. Comr. Mulyadi Kaharni said that the case had been transferred to the Bogor Police. “Although the family filed a missing person report to us, the crime was committed in Bogor. It would be more effective if the case was handled by the Bogor Police,” he said.

The police said Yugi, aka Catur Sugiarto, among several other names, was on their repeat offender list and had been jailed four times, including for drug abuse and theft.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Tuesday that the police had named Catur Sugiarto as a suspect for kidnapping, beating and raping SAS. “From the information we have, the man is a public minivan driver with illegal driver’s license,” Rikwanto said.

The victim’s father, also a public minivan driver, said that he had often warned his daughter about befriending strangers online. “I hope our daughter is the last victim,” he said.

Rikwanto told Facebook users to not easily trust people they meet through social media. “Parents [...] should monitor with whom their children interact in Facebook.” (aml)

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