Tourists arrested in Bali after being accused of filming porn on the island

Three tourists have been arrested in Bali after local police accused them of filming pornographic content on the holiday island.

A 23-year-old French woman, named by local media as Melisa Mireille Jeanine, was arrested on March 13 alongside a 24-year-old Italian man, reported in local media as Nadir ben Said, as the pair attempted to leave Indonesia via Denpasar airport for Thailand.

Another man, a 26-year-old French national known only as ERB, was arrested in Canggu, Bali, on Monday. He was described as being the woman’s ‘manager’, according to AFP.

Police chief Joseph Edward Purba of Bali’s Badung district told reporters that the trio were being held on suspicion of creating and distributing pornographic content for profit.

“Their motivation to do the (alleged) crime is seeking profit from pornographic video content,” Purba told a press conference on Tuesday.

“All the three suspects are now facing Indonesian electronic information and transaction laws for making and spreading the content.”

Purba revealed that police had also seized three phones, a camera, a MacBook laptop and ‘motorcycle taxi vest’ from the tourists.

X-rated content is highly illegal in Indonesia and the tourists could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty on the pornography charge and another six for online distribution.

While Bali itself is predominantly Hindu, Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country that has conservative laws and harsh views on pornography.

On January 2 of this year, Indonesia formally implemented its new Criminal Code — a lengthy legal document which ushered in a number of new and revised laws that criminalize premarital sex, cohabitation and public drunkenness.

According to the new laws, adultery, premarital sex and cohabitation, or unmarried couples living together, are now potential crimes with penalties ranging from between six months to a year in jail.

However, legal experts told news.com.au that unmarried couples traveling to Indonesia need not to worry, as these crimes can only be reported to authorities by certain people.

“These alleged crimes cannot be processed by the police without a complaint which can only be filed by the legal husband or wife, parents or children of the perpetrator,” legal expert and founder of the People’s Law Centre, Retno Murni, explained.

“Therefore, foreign tourists cannot be arrested, raided, or prosecuted simply for staying or residing with a partner, unless there is a valid complaint from these parties.”

However, Murni implored that as along as tourists “behave appropriately, respect local norms, and use official documents” they have nothing to worry about while visiting Indonesia.

The trio’s arrest comes just months after controversial British adult content creator Bonnie Blue was arrested and deported from Bali back in December 2025.

The 26-year-old has reportedly been “black-listed” from entering Indonesia for at least 10 years, Indonesia’s Immigration department head told reporters.

During a press conference outside Bali’s Ngurah Rai Immigration Office, Immigration chief Heru Winarko said the UK citizen and her team had breached their visa privileges.

“They have misused the visa they have to make content in Bali,” Winarko said.

“They will be black-listed from entering Indonesia for at least 10 years (that) could be extended.”

The sex worker, whose real name is Tia Billinger, was arrested alongside a group of 17 male tourists following a raid of a studio in Badung, Bali.

Fourteen of the men, all Australians, were released without charge while an investigation into Bonnie Blue and the other three tourists was launched.

After two days of interviews, Badung Police issued a statement declaring they “had not found any pornographic elements” during the dramatic raid, detikBali reported, and Billinger was released without charge.

Officials said everyone they questioned had “admitted to being at the studio to participate in the production of the reality show content”.

One of the most controversial of Blue’s stunts was taking to the streets of deeply-religious Bali on a “BangBus” tour for Schoolies.

In court, a clip of Blue in the vehicle was played. Outside of court, she reportedly made a series of crude remarks to reporters, as well as addressing fans with her signature, “hi boys”.

“While in Bali, BB (Bonnie Blue) should have been travelling, but instead she was creating content,” said Badung Police Chief Arif Batubara.

“They have misused the visa they have to make content in Bali.”