Indonesian police clamp down on paedophile ring

Officers caught the first suspect, a man in his 40s accused of pimping out boys on his Facebook page, on Tuesday in a hotel room in Cisarua on Java island.

The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was with seven boys and an 18-year-old when he was arrested.

Two more suspects were detained yesterday, one of whom allegedly also solicited boys over social media, and another accused of using the service - which involved boys between 12 and 18 years of age.

Senior police officer Agung Setya says the age of consent in Indonesia is 18.

"They all know each other, they're a syndicate," he said.

Investigators found 99 boys offered online at prices ranging from 1.2 million rupiah to 10 million rupiah (R1323 to R13968)

The police began monitoring the first suspect in August, when they came across his Facebook account during a regular online check.

He had been released from jail in March - after serving a sentence for prostitution involving girls, Setya added.

Asrorun Niam Sholeh, head of government-backed rights group the National Commission for Child Protection, urged the state to swiftly issue new laws to combat sexual crimes against children.

"We have to use this as momentum to really wage a war against sexual crime," he said, adding that children were being "physically and psychologically damaged".

　

President Joko Widodo in May introduced tough new punishments for child sex offenders, including a maximum penalty of death and chemical castration, after the brutal gang-rape and murder of a schoolgirl western island of Sumatra, sparked nationwide outrage.