A man has been charged with trafficking a child from Indonesia to Sydney, where police allege she was forced into sex work.
Police have removed seven women, including a 17-year-old, from sexual exploitation in Australia, after a joint investigation between the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Indonesian police.
The AFP will allege the charged man, from Arncliffe in Sydney’s south, is the ringleader of a group that worked with a recruiter in Jakarta to find victims and funnel them into sex work in Australia’s largest city.
The AFP began investigating the 43-year-old in December 2022, after they received intelligence alleging that foreign nationals were arriving and being forced into sex work, in breach of their visa conditions.
He was identified as the alleged on-shore facilitator for multiple women.
Police in Indonesia then identified a woman in Jakarta who was allegedly recruiting women to travel to Australia.
In March of this year, the AFP searched properties in Arncliffe and Banksia in Sydney’s south.
A number of foreign nationals were identified as potential victims of human trafficking, and travel documents and personal identification were seized as evidence.
At the same time, AFP officers searched a home in Jakarta belonging to the alleged recruiter.
The alleged recruiter was arrested by Indonesian police and charged with human trafficking offences.
In May, the AFP searched three brothels across Sydney, locating nine more women who had allegedly been forced into sex work.
As a result of the raids, six more women were identified in Indonesia, who were about to be trafficked to Australia. They were prevented from leaving the country.
A third person, a 35-year-old woman in Sydney, has been linked to the criminal enterprise.
The AFP will allege she had fraudulently enrolled students at an education provider in Sydney to extend the victims’ stay.
Instead of studying, they were allegedly forced to work in the sex industry.
On June 19, the woman’s home was searched and her visa was cancelled by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.
The AFP said she was then detained and taken to Villawood Detention Centre as an “unlawful non-citizen”.
On July 10, the Arncliffe man was arrested and charged with one count of trafficking in children, a charge that carries a maximum of 25 years in jail. He was scheduled to appear in court today.
AFP Commander Kate Ferry said organised crime syndicates sought to exploit any opportunity to make money, “without regard to the misery they cause others”.
“The AFP is committed to protecting vulnerable people from the tentacles of organised crime, and this challenging 20-month investigation is a testament to the resolve of our people,” Ferry said.
Australian Border Force Acting Superintendent Mark Jenkins said any modern slavery offenders would be investigated.
“We are dedicated to identifying criminals who seek to exploit our visa programs and visa holders who are victims of trafficking or modern slavery practices within the sex industry,” he said.
“Home Affairs continues to focus efforts on identifying and disrupting key facilitators of foreign nationals in the sex industry, by targeting high-risk migration agents (both registered and un-registered) as well as lawyers and education providers.”
