8 indicted for trafficking Indonesians, running sex ring

Taipei, Sept. 3 (CNA) The Taipei District Prosecutors Office on Wednesday indicted eight individuals, including a Vietnamese national, for trafficking Indonesian women to Taiwan to perform sex work.

In addition, prosecutors asked for over NT$3.62 million (US$116,830) of illegal profits to be confiscated, and listed an Indonesian woman nicknamed "LUNA" as wanted for assisting the group's operation in Indonesia, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, a Vietnamese woman, surnamed Vo (武), formed a human trafficking ring with LUNA and a Taiwanese man, surnamed Hu (胡), in 2023.

The group lured victims with Facebook ads offering "high-paying jobs" as spa workers, karaoke hostesses, or sex workers in Taiwan, the indictment said.

However, the victims were sent to rented apartments in Taipei and New Taipei, where they were forced to work as prostitutes for over 12 hours a day and paid NT$200-500.

To prevent the women from seeking help or escaping, the group threatened them with having to work off the debt accrued from their trip to Taiwan.

The women initially traveled to Japan as tourist groups to obtain a Japanese visa, which allowed them to enter Taiwan on a 14-day visa-free period as tourists, based on Taiwanese law.

After arriving in Taiwan, the group confiscated the women's passports and forced them to pose for erotic ads.

One woman died from heart failure in July 2024, and reportedly expressed her unwillingness to return to her traffickers on her death bed while in hospital, the indictment said.

In February, one woman managed to escape with the help of a male client, and went to the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei, where she revealed details of the sex trafficking case.

Prosecutors charged members of the group with human trafficking and engaging in organized crime, while seeking a minimum prison sentence of six years for Vo and Hu, and two years for two Taiwanese men surnamed Chen (陳) and Chien (簡), who rented rooms for the ring.

Four others, all Taiwanese and surnamed Huang (黃), Fang (方), Cho (卓) and Chen (陳), were also indicted for their involvement in the group's daily operations, which included transporting the victims and soliciting business, according to the indictment.