T

he Jakarta Police in cooperation with Interpol from the Taipei City Police Department and Chinese Police have arrested 96 Chinese and Taiwanese citizens and an Indonesian for alleged involvement in transnational online fraud in China.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian said the Indonesian, identified only as W, allegedly acted as the person in charge in Indonesia, along with one Taiwanese suspect, identified only as FSB. The suspects were arrested on Aug. 19 at De River Hotel in Tambora, West Jakarta, and in Pademangan, North Jakarta.

The police subsequently arrested 95 suspects on Thursday in three different houses, 38 in Ancol, North Jakarta, and 57 at two houses in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta.

The police uncovered the locations after conducting a month-long surveillance and receiving a tip-off from neighbors of the Ancol house about a group of foreigners living in the premises.

The police seized evidence comprising 116 cellphones, 92 phones, 42 passports, 18 laptops, nine monitors, 64 units of public switched telephone networks (PSTN), seven computer tablets, 19 routers, 13 modems, 18 walkie-talkies, a minivan, a quantity of gold and diamonds, a gun and cash in different currencies worth Rp 10 billion (US$715,800)

Jakarta Police general crime director Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti said that all of the victims were Chinese residents. '€œThe recruiters are in Taiwan,'€ he said.

The suspects, he added, were recruited in Taiwan and the fraud ring told them they could earn money doing some '€œprojects'€ in Indonesia for a few months. Many of the suspects were young people who wanted to make money from overseas short-time projects.

The recruiters sent these people on various flights, using visas-on-arrival for tourists, to Indonesia, where they were met by W.

Meanwhile, FSB was responsible for their transportation, accommodation and visas in Jakarta.

In Indonesia, the suspects were told to commit the fraud using international calls to China, pretending to be police telling victims that their relatives had been abducted and asking them to transfer large sums of money.

The police said the ring went to great effort to traffic the people to Indonesia because telephone calls in China were easy to trace.

'€œThe money went directly to the recruiters'€™ accounts in Taiwan,'€ Krishna said, adding that the organization was protected by a Japanese criminal organization.

'€œWe have sent the data on the foreigners to the South Jakarta immigration office,'€ he said.

South Jakarta Immigration Agency head Cucu Koswala said the agency would deport 94 suspects to face the legal process in their country. '€œWe will blacklist them. They cannot come to Indonesia again,'€ Cucu said.

Krishna said the two main suspects would be processed in Indonesia and faced a maximum 15-year prison sentence for violating Law No. 21/2007 on human trafficking.

At the same occasion, Taipei City Police crime department deputy commander Chen Jui Chin said that it was the largest number of Taiwanese suspects ever arrested in an operation in Indonesia and the police had been conducting the investigation for a year-and-a-half.

'€œWe and the Chinese Police found difficulties in tracking and arresting the suspects because their organization had very wide and complicated networks,'€ he said.

Chen said the Taipei Police fully appreciated how Jakarta Police handled the operation in a very careful but nonetheless speedy manner. '€œWe only informed them of the suspects'€™ passport numbers and they tracked and arrested them in a month,'€ he added.

On the same day Taipei Police arrested eight suspects allegedly involved in the organization in Taiwan.

An intelligence agent from Taipei City Police said that police in Indonesia, Taiwan and China had jointly investigated the ring for six months. (foy)