T

he police apprehended 31 foreigners at an upscale residence in the Tasbih housing complex in Medan on Monday for their alleged roles as members of an international cybercrime network.

North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Eko Hadi Sutedjo said the 31 suspects, consisting of 11 Chinese and 20 Taiwanese citizens, were arrested without resistance, but they tried to conceal evidence.

He said the foreigners, 17 men and 14 women, were believed to be masterminded by a Chinese citizen, identified only as AB, who lived in Hong Kong.

'€œAB is the financier. He also ordered William, a Jakarta resident, to send the suspects to Medan,'€ Eko told journalists after inspecting the site of the arrests on Monday.

Eko said based on a preliminary investigation, the suspects claimed they committed cybercrime against Chinese and Taiwanese citizens.

'€œThe victims are all Chinese and Taiwanese citizens living in their respective countries. None of the victims are Indonesian. They committed the fraud here [in Indonesia] though,'€ said Eko.

He added the police would coordinate with immigration to deport all the suspects to their countries of origin after the investigation was completed.

North Sumatra Police special crimes and intelligence director Sr. Comr. Ahmad Haydar said the evidence, which the suspects had tried to damage, had been placed in the custody of the police.

He added the syndicate had burned a number of pieces of evidence, such as six laptops, two cell phones and a passport.

'€œThey suddenly moved quickly to burn the evidence as we entered the house. Fortunately, our officers were quicker so much of the evidence is still intact,'€ Haydar told The Jakarta Post at the scene of the raid on Monday afternoon.

Haydar said among the items that the police were able to prevent being damaged were six laptops, 65 cell phones, 12 computer keyboards, two GPS devices, two modems and banknotes in Chinese, Taiwanese, Thai, US and Indonesian currencies.

'€œWe found 112 Chinese bills worth 18,250 yuan, 60 Thai baht, US$10, 6,000 Taiwanese yuan and Rp 1,250,000,'€ said Haydar.

He added that the syndicate had been operating at the housing estate in Medan for a month. He said the case came to light following Internet reports in Indonesia, from which police traced the house that was being used by the syndicate.

'€œThe house was reported to be located at the Tasbih housing estate. After we conducted surveillance, a house was found to be vacant but the lights were always on. We raided the house and found 31 Chinese and Taiwanese citizens operating a number of laptops,'€ said Haydar, adding the raid was conducted at around 6 a.m. local time.

Haydar said his unit was still building the case and would work together with the National Police to uncover the syndicate'€™s operations in Indonesia.