Vento Saudale, Bogor – The police arrested a Koran recitation teacher in Wanaherang village in Bogor after he admitted to having sexually molested 13 of his students over the course of two years.

The case was revealed after the parents of a 9-year-old child reported the teacher, Nana Suryana, 47, to the police. The mother said she learned about the alleged molestation from the child's younger sister.

"She first heard about it from the sister, then she talked to the alleged victim for confirmation," First Insp. FX Suyadi said in Bogor on Saturday. "Then she reported the teacher to the police."

"[Nana] admitted to molesting 13 children during the past two years, with the ages of the victims ranging from 5 to 9 years old."

In the case of the 9-year-old child, Nana reportedly offered Rp 2,000 (20 cents) after the act. "He also threatened her, warning her not to tell anybody about it," the police officer said.

He said Nana was being detained at Bogor Police headquarters and would be charged with violating two articles of the 2002 Law on Child Protection. The maximum sentence is 15 years in jail.

A number of Islamic religious teachers have been arrested for sexually abusing their students in recent years in different areas of the country.

In May, the police in Nganjuk, East Java, arrested a 27-year-old Koran recital teacher who had allegedly raped several of his students. The teacher was nearly killed by residents after they heard what he had done.

Last April, the police in South Sulawesi's Gowa district arrested two Koran recital teachers for allegedly sodomizing an 8-year-old student. The suspects are alleged to have been caught by a resident in the act of removing the boy's trousers in their room on the second floor of a mosque.

The two teachers were able to escape from a mob of residents and ran to the nearest police station for protection. They were taken into protective custody and later transferred to Gowa Police headquarters, where they reportedly confessed to having sodomized the boy on at least six separate occasions.

The case mirrors another one earlier this month in the same province. In that case, an Islamic teacher was arrested in Bulukumba district for allegedly molesting a female student.

Also, a teacher at a state junior high school was arrested on April 12 while trying to flee the area, after the girl's father reportedly threatened to kill him.

Last year, the police arrested a Koran teacher who was also a civil worker in the Bogor city administration for allegedly sexually abusing eight boys who were also his students.