Bali rounds up 'beach boy gigolos'

Indonesian officials have detained 28 "beach gigolos" accused of selling sex to female tourists in Bali, AFP reported today.

"We've rounded up 28 men we suspect might be gigolos. They're young, fit-looking and tanned, mostly surfer beach boys," said I Gusti Ngurah Tresna, the chief of security on Bali's main Kuta beach.

The raids follow the release of a documentary, Cowboys in Paradise, which debuted at a film festival in South Korea last week.

The film contains candid interviews with "beach boys" and the foreign women who fall for them and has gone viral on the internet.

The filmmaker said the "cowboys" were part of a "male sex trade" but could not be considered male prostitutes in the traditional sense.

The beach police chief could not say what charges might be laid and said it would be hard to prove they were selling sex.

"They will approach foreign female tourists, especially Japanese, on the beach, befriend them and the women will pay for their company and food during their stay here. Sex may be involved."

He said similar arrests had been made in the past but the suspects had been released with a warning.

"It's like prostitution which is hard to prove because the foreign women may be willing partners, too."

Bali Tourism Board chief Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya said although the "cowboys" had been fixtures on Bali's beaches for some time , they had not attracted much attention until now.

"The film is over the top and only focuses on this group of people on the beach, but that's not what Bali is about. If the film is shown to the world, Bali's image will be tarnished," he said.