Police uncovered yet another prostitution operation in the infamous Kalibata City apartment complex in South Jakarta, this time involving underage pimps who allegedly assaulted their teenage victims, whom they held hostage in an apartment unit.
Authorities were alerted to the case after Depok City Police received a missing person report for 17-year-old AS, whose whereabout had been unknown since Dec. 31. Authorities launched a search soon after, which led them to discover AS and two other victims, 15-year-olds JO and NA, who were held in a unit on the 10th floor of one of the apartment buildings, according to a report by state news agency Antara.
JO was reportedly bruised when she was found and was then taken to a hospital nearby for medical treatment.
“The victim was burned with a cigarette, slapped, bitten, punched in the nose, kicked in the legs, hit by a knee while her hands were tied,” South Jakarta Police’s crime unit chief M. Irwan Santosa said in a press conference yesterday, as quoted by Detik.
Based on the information from Depok City Police, South Jakarta Police investigated the case and apprehended the alleged pimps, with several local news outlets identifying them by their initials NA, MTG (AKA Ferdi), AS, and JF. The suspects are reportedly teenagers.
The four of them are reportedly undergoing questioning by the South Jakarta Police, while another suspect, identified by his initial P, is still being pursued by officials. However, according to a report from KompasTV, there is a total of seven suspects in the case.
Police said the girls were sold as sex workers through messaging app Michat at various rates, and that JO was physically abused by NA, MTG, and AS, and raped by one of the suspects.
Following the unveiling of this illegal prostitution case, Kalibata City management said they plan on tightening the rental rules.
Kalibata City’s general manager Ishak Lopung told Detik yesterday that they will meet with the agent who leased the unit where the crime took place and hold a briefing with all agents and brokers, with the police in attendance, to avoid a similar incident from happening in the future.
Ishak claimed the management wasn’t involved when it comes to rent and that the unit used in this crime had been leased on a daily basis.
“Management doesn’t have agents. We only supervise the building, we never take care of dealings regarding unit rentals. [The unit where the crime took place was managed] by the external agent who wasn’t registered to us. From my understanding, they were the mischievous agents, who weren’t official. They got the unit from the owner, then he leased it. Owners probably only wanted their unit to be leased,” Ishak said.
Situated in the Pancoran district, Kalibata City is known for prostitution and narcotics-related operations, with many reported arrests over the years. The government has threatened to take drastic actions against its management several times, but as shown in this most recent case, the problem still persists.
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