Associated Press

Hong Kong, May 28:

Two Indonesian maids who tied up an employment agent and snapped nude photographs of her in a blackmail plot have been jailed for more than two years, a newspaper reported today. The maids stormed into the agent’s office on February 8 demanding a refund of money they had paid to get jobs in South Korea, but when the woman refused they attacked her, according to the South China Morning Post. They bound and gagged the agent, stripped off her clothes and took 19 nude photographs that they threatened to publish in a magazine if the agent did not repay the 22,600 Hong Kong dollars ($2,900) they had handed over in job-seeking fees, the Post said.

Pamasan Dewi, 28, who was described as taking the lead role in the plot, was yesterday sentenced to 32 months in prison after pleading guilty to false imprisonment and blackmail, the Post said. The other maid, identified only as Deby, received 28 months after admitting the same charges. District Court Judge Mary Yuen was quoted as telling the maids their crime was deliberate and violent. The Post story did not identify the employment agent, who was able to free herself and call police after the maids left her office.