T

he Jakarta Police have arrested a teenager, identified only as MI, 19, who allegedly kidnapped a 16-year-old girl he met through Facebook.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Friday that MI and the girl had communicated through the social media since 2011.

The girl, an 11th grade student who lives in Lampung, decided to meet MI, a drop-out from a private college in Jakarta. '€œMI said he would take the girl to meet her father who worked at a factory in Pulogadung, East Jakarta,'€ Rikwanto said.

He said the girl arrived by ferry at Merak Port in Banten at 9 p.m. on July 6 where she was picked up by MI. MI took her to an empty house belonging to his friend in Ciputat, South Jakarta, where he kept her until July 11.

Her father had reported his missing daughter to the city police and they were able to trace her whereabouts by checking her Facebook account and arrested MI.

'€œWhile the girl was in Ciputat, MI harassed her and tried to have sex with her but she always fought back,'€ he said. '€œMI stole her two cellphones so she could not contact her family,'€ Rikwanto said, adding that results of a medical examination on the girl had yet to be released.

'€œMI faces up to five years'€™ imprisonment for kidnapping an under-aged child under Article 332 of the Criminal Code,'€ he said.

The city police have recorded 12 crimes involving Facebook so far this year, as compared to 21 cases recorded in the whole of 2012.

Rikwanto said that people needed to be aware of the dangers of communicating on the Internet, including Facebook. '€œParents should supervise their children'€™s interactions on the Internet,'€ he said. '€œParents should also know who their children'€™s friends on Facebook are, and which groups they join.'€

He explained that parents should pay attention to what their children were talking about on Facebook and limit the time they could access the Internet.

'€œIf children browse the Internet in Internet cafes '€” they usually don'€™t want their parents to know who their Internet friends are '€” parents can cooperate with Internet café operators to find out about their children'€™s online activities.'€

According to Jakarta Police'€™s Cyber Crime Unit data, the first four months of this year saw 176 cyber crime cases, including scams using the Internet and social media.

Cyber crime unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Audie Latuheru told The Jakarta Post that Facebook and other social media were a world without boundaries that could be exploited by criminals.

'€œBe careful when making new friends or networking on the Internet,'€ he said.'€While we may approve new online friend requests quickly, experts say do not be too quick to trust those you meet in the digital world.'€ (ian)