An RSE worker had been deported to Tonga after missing work due to spending time with a prostitute.
Police had been called to check on the employee after his employers discovered he had not been at work for three days.
“The situation unfolded after allegations surfaced that the individual had “tricked” the worker, leading to legal repercussions and eventual removal from the country”, a report by Stuff said.
It said the Tongan RSE worker was “lured” off his farm in the middle of the night by a sex worker who “tricked” him into believing they were in love and should be together.
Police confirmed in a statement that officers went with immigration staff to a property in Motueka on January 22 and arrested a man.
He was held in police custody until being flown to Auckland two days later and escorted to his flight home.
“Police routinely escort deportees across the country as a precaution and to ensure they arrive at their designated flights,” a spokesperson was reported by Stuff as saying.
Fadia Mudafar, national manager of immigration compliance with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), said there were no restrictions on what RSE workers did in their leisure time, as long as they complied with their visa conditions.
In the case of the Tongan national in Motueka, the man had breached his visa by “absconding from his place of employment”.
It is understood that sex workers frequently approached RSE workers in a situation that appeared to have been organised by certain gang members.
“The workers would often fall in love with the women, who would keep fleecing them for money and threaten to tell authorities or their families if they didn’t pay”, the sources said, according to Stuff.
“The workers would often fall in love with the women, who would keep fleecing them for money and threaten to tell authorities or their families if they didn’t pay, the sources said.
Sometimes the women would claim they’d fallen pregnant to extract more cash”.
Prostitution is allowed in New Zealand, and Police reportedly said after the arrival of RSE workers in the country, they are provided with safety guidelines.
