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Police uncover trafficking case of three underage girls
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Duren Tiga subdistrict head Tiga Endang (from right to left), head of National Police information division Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul, Henny Hermanoe of the Indonesian Child Protection Institution (LPAI) and a parent of a trafficking victim speaks at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday. (kompas.com/Robertus Belarminus)
P
olice have uncovered a human trafficking case, involving three underage girls identified only as D (12), SZ (15) and P (18), who were trafficked from Jakarta to West Sumatra’s capital Padang without their parents’ knowledge.
Head of National Police information division Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul said on Friday that the three girls had now been brought back to Jakarta.
The incident started when SZ and D met with their friend P about an employment opportunity on Aug. 24, an activist from Indonesian Child Protection Institution (LPAI) Henny Hermanoe told the press conference, which was also attended by Martinus in Jakarta on Friday.
Interested in the job offer from P, SZ and D agreed to meet with I, a friend of P, in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java. I is a daughter of B (52), an owner of a café in Padang, West Sumatra.
“On Wednesday (Aug. 24), SZ and D were convinced by P that they would be hired,” said Henny as quoted by kompas.com at Duren Tiga subdistrict office in South Jakarta.
The three girls spent one night at I’s house in Kelapa Dua before they flew to Padang on Aug. 25.
Henny said while in Padang, the three were forced to accompany guests in a café owned by B on Aug. 26. They were not allowed to have contact with other people while they stayed at a motel, near the café. The parents of SZ and D filed a report to the police after knowing that their daughters had flown to Padang from a friend of SZ and D.
Martinus said the police tracked the phones of the victims and discovered the two had been in Padang. “We informed our police comrades in Padang and on Aug. 29, the Padang Police raided the Café owned by B,” he said, adding that the police were still investigating the case. (bbn)
