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ustralians remain the largest group of foreign tourist arrivals in Bali despite recent strained relations between the Australian and Indonesian governments, which may be exacerbated by recent reports of an incident in which a group of Melbourne men were mistreated by police and security guards in Bali.

Commenting on the allegations of violence and bribery committed by local police officers and security guards, Bali Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Hery Wiyanto said that the police had not received any official report.

 '€œIf the incident really happened, then there has been an abuse of power by our officers, and we will act firmly. But we need to check with the local police station and find out who the officers are,'€ said Hery on Tuesday.

The incident allegedly happened in February when former model Mark Ipaviz and his friends were holidaying on the resort island, The Age reported on Sunday.

On their last night, they organized a private event at an upmarket Seminyak restaurant and hired a stripper for the party.

After the stripper began her performance, security guards stormed in and allegedly used Taser weapons against the Australians, as well as beating them with guns and bottles.

After confiscating the men'€™s phones and calling local police, the guards and the police transported the group to a police station.

The tourists were reportedly forced to stay overnight at the police station and threatened with 10-year prison sentences for indecency. They were later taken to ATMs, where they were forced to withdraw a total of Rp 250 million (US$18,780) to secure their release.

 The story has emerged despite the men involved remaining reluctant to comment. Most of them have vowed never to return to Bali, saying they still feel angry and upset.

Relations between Indonesia and Australia have been strained in recent times, most recently by the executions by Indonesia of drug convicts Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan in May, which spurred a #BoycottBali social media campaign in Australia.

When contacted by The Jakarta Post, the Australian Consulate General in Bali and the embassy in Jakarta both refused to comment on the incident.

While Australian media have reported that fewer Australians are visiting Bali '€” '€œraising the alarm that the heyday of Australian tourism to the island may be on the wane'€, according to the Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday '€” the latest data from the Central Statistics Agency show the opposite.

 The agency'€™s data, which was released on June 1, showed that from January to April this year, Australia dominated the island'€™s foreign tourist arrivals. The country remained in first place, except in February when it ranked second with 21.04 percent.

Bali Tourism Agency head AA Yuniartha Putra said the data showed that the war of words between the nations'€™ governments had not affected tourist arrivals.

'€œIn 2014, the number of Australians visiting Bali reached 991,923 tourists, an increase of 20.03 percent from the previous year. This year, from January to April, the number stood at 312,931, rising 11.64 percent from the same period in 2014. Australia is still in first place,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Bagus Sudibya, a tourism expert in Bali, stressed that the rule of law should be upheld for violations committed by anyone, including tourists.

'€œLaw enforcers should conduct the legal process properly. A lot of foreigners commit violations here because they are aware that the enforcement is weak.'€