Ten male refugees, nine from Afghanistan and one from Pakistan, have been arrested on Batam Island for allegedly working as prostitutes, according to Indonesian immigration officials.
Also arrested was an Indonesian citizen, identified by his initials BS, who allegedly acted as the men’s pimp.
The director general of Immigration at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Ronny Franky Sompie, said the eleven men had been arrested after they had received reports about them from the public. Supposedly the men were charging up to Rp 20 million ($1,500) for their services.
According to Ronny, the reports said the men looked for female Indonesian customers at a fitness center.
“There, communication and interaction occurred and there were cases related to sex,” Ronny said on Wednesday as quoted by Tempo.
Batam Immigration Office Chief Agus Wijaya said that the men’s illicit activities were also revealed through ads posted onto social media. He said officers investigated the ads over the last three weeks before apprehending the the ten gigolos and their pimp. The arrests took place from mid-August to early September.
Immigration officials said that some of the men had already registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and were awaiting for placements in other countries.
The ten refugees are currently in holding at the Batam Immigration detention center for further questioning, while BS is being questioned by the local police.
There are hundreds of refugees in Indonesia who fled persecution and war in their own countries and ended up in legal limbo after being unable to continue their journeys, unable to legally work or resettle until they have been given a placement in another country by the UNHCR.
