T

he police in Karanganyar, Central Java, recently foiled an alleged attempt by a worker recruitment agency to traffic two teenage girls, one of whom was underage, into prostitution. The two girls, aged 17 and 19, from Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, were afterwards taken to a safe house belonging to the Social Analysis and Research Institute (SARI).

“The two are in good health. We are arranging to bring them to their home town,” said Karanganyar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Mahedi Surindra on Friday.

The two victims, who were cousins, were offered work in Singapore for a monthly wage of Rp 6 million. According to an uncle of the girls, the man who recruited them was also a relative.

The uncle said that after completing the necessary documents, the two were picked up by the recruiter on June 4 and taken to the offices of the Sekar Tanjung Lestari recruitment agency in Sumbawa Besar. Afterwards, the recruiter took them to Lombok and then sent them to Surabaya, East Java. Upon arrival in Surabaya, another man brought them to Surakarta, Central Java. In Surakarta, one of the girls contacted their uncle, who then went to the city and reported the incident to the local police.