JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – A French citizen living in Indonesia has been apprehended by Jakarta police on pedophilia charges.
The 65-year-old French pedophile, given the alias Frans, is believed to have sexually assaulted 305 Indonesian minors.
The child victims were exploited sexually and economically based on Jakarta police information.
The Jakarta police said that the French pedophile bribed his victims with money ranging from Rp 250,000 to Rp 1,000,000. Police investigation showed that the suspect would offer the victims Rp 100,000 as an initial "persuasion tactic".
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Most of the victims are streek kids as the Frenchman preyed on victims at random while roaming the streets of Jakarta, police said.
According to Yusri Yunus, Head of Public Relations at the Greater Jakarta Metropolitan Regional Police, the suspect pretended to be a photographer promising his young victims that they would become models as means to carry out the sexual act.
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The French pedophile also designed the hotel room to appear like a photo studio.
Police said that while the suspect has limited proficiency in Bahasa Indonesia, he spoke the language when interacting with the victims, said Yusri.
Making an arrest
The July 10 arrest followed a police investigation triggered by information they received about a sexual exploitation case involving Indonesian minors and a foreigner.
The French citizen was caught at Hotel PP in West Jakarta with two Indonesian minors in his hotel room.
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“We apprehended a foreign citizen with two underage children - one was naked and the other half-naked. It was then that we took the suspect to the police station,” said Nana Sudjana, Police Chief of the Greater Jakarta Metropolitan Regional Police.
The evidence gathered thus far includes videos stored in the suspect’s laptop, six memory cards, 21 articles of clothing from the victims, two vibrators, six cameras, and 20 contraceptives.
The estimated number of 305 exploited Indonesian minors was based on the video discovered on the Frenchman’s laptop, according to Jakarta police.
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Out of the 305 Indonesian minors believed to be the suspect’s victims, Jakarta police have identified at least 17 kids.
They range between the ages 10 and 17 years. Indonesia’s Minister of Social Affairs Juliari P. Batubara said that the ministry is prepared to rehabilitate all the 305 Indonesian child victims following the arrest.
Nana Sudjana said that the Frenchman will face the possibility of a death penalty or a jail sentence of a minimum of 10 years or a maximum 20 years.
(Writer: Muhammad Isa Bustomi | Editor: Jessi Carina, Irfan Maullana)
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