Aji Surya, a counselor at the Indonesian Embassy in Moscow, said the victims had sought work in Russia as prostitutes, but later found themselves tied up and gagged in an apartment where they were forced to perform sex acts without payment.
He said the embassy had received a tip from a female caller, identified by authorities only as S, at dawn on Monday.
A security guard at the embassy picked up the call and heard a woman whisper that Indonesians were being held.
“They have not been allowed to leave this apartment and have been forced to render services to customers without pay. Please help,” the caller reportedly said.
After being notified, Hamid Awaluddin, the Indonesian ambassador, ordered his staff to contact the police.
A team of counselors were also dispatched on Monday morning to meet with officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which ordered police in Moscow to conduct an investigation.
Aji said Russian police launched a sting operation on Monday evening, with undercover officers posing as clients. This led to a raid on the apartment, where the two Indonesians were found.
A third Indonesian transsexual reportedly trapped by the prostitution ring, however, remained missing, according to Aji.
Antara
[RAP: Disappointing, sensationalized language in the report that seems to be a very positive story of cooperation between Indonesian officials and Russian authorities, leading to the rescue of two Indonesian sexworkers. This reporting would be much improved without terms like "sex slave" and if the "prostitution syndicate", which is unlikely to be involved only in prostitution, was referred to more accurately as a crime syndicate.]
No comments:
Post a Comment