25 foreigners arrested for allegedly being involved in money laundering

The National Police Criminal Investigation Directorate (Bareskrim) has arrested 25 foreigners in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, for their alleged involvements in money laundering through email account hijacking.

'€œWe have arrested 25 foreigners for their alleged involvements in transnational crimes in Indonesia. They are all Nigerians,'€ said National Police chief Comr.Gen.Sutarman in Jakarta on Thursday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

During the raid, the police also took three women, who were all Indonesian citizens, into custody.

Sutarman said all of the suspects were arrested based on reports filed by the alleged victims. '€œWe have investigated two fraud victims with potential losses of around Rp 30 billion (US$2,670),'€ he said.

According to Sutarman, the police had been investigating the case for a month. The criminals first hijacked their victims'€™ email system and stole their data. They then used the data to carry out frauds for their personal gains.

Sutarman said the suspects would be charged with the 2008 law on information and electronic transaction (ITE) and Law No.8/2010 on money laundering.

'€œThey hijacked their emails and stole their data which were used to disguise the illegal origins of their money,'€ said Sutarman. (ebf)