The Immigration Department arrested seven foreign models in a shop in Bukit Duri, Tebet, South Jakarta on Thursday. The models violated work permit laws as they had been working in Indonesia on tourist visas.
Yudi Kurniawan, head of the South Jakarta Immigration office, said they had been monitoring the models after receiving information about them in December. The models, three male and four female, were employed at two photo modeling agencies with the initials HE and FIM in Jakarta.
“We checked their documents and it was proven they don’t have work permits. Because of that they were arrested and could be deported,” Yudi said yesterday as quoted by Warta Kota.
Yudi then quashed any rumors that the illegal immigrants were involved in other illegal activities during their time in Indonesia.
“Suspicions of the models being commercialized sex workers are not true. They worked for their [modeling] agencies, who pay them a lot of money, ranging from Rp 5-10 million per photoshoot,” he said.
The Immigration Department revealed their identities to be Indira De Olivera (21), Mireli Banach (19), and Vinicius Pereira Da Silva (24) from Brazil; Shenae Ellise Palmer (20) from New Zealand; Kimberley Stewart (23) from Australia; Fouad Fatmi (21) from Morocco; Aznar Gonzalez (25) from Spain.
