A Java-Bali child trafficking operation was reportedly busted by police in Mengwi, Bali last November.
Police arrested five alleged perps, identified in a Merdeka report, published on Feb. 5, as I Made Saduarsa alias Babe,46, Elin Herlina alias Lina, 32, Entin Kartini alias Resti, 33, Tri Budhi Santoso alias TBX, 33, and Raden Diaz Hadiman Syarief alias Diaz, 35. These five are now in Mengwi Police custody.
Three other suspects are still at large, according to Merdeka.
Police were tipped off to the underage trafficking syndicate based on public tips about Shinta cafe in Mengwi that would employee underage workers. Following up on these reports, police went undercover to the cafe to investigate, Mengwi Police Chief Nengah Sumadi told Merdeka on Thursday.
According to Sumadi, after several visits to the cafe, police could see it was clear that there were underage children in the cafe. From there, police summoned the cafe owner, Made Saduarsa and demanded he give all the identity cards of his employees for an identity check.
That’s when police discovered there were minors working in the cafe, some with falsified ID cards listing their ages as older.
The girls were brought in from West Java and were disturbingly kept in a locked and guarded room where they could not escape when they weren’t working, Sumadi explained.
Local reports did not go into specifics on what charges the alleged perps will be facing and what has happened to the girls from West Java, but we sure hope justice is fairly handed down when this makes it to court.
