18 Suspects in Custody over Alleged Gambling Syndicate Involving Ministry Officials

Jakarta. The Jakarta Police have arrested two new suspects in the ongoing criminal investigation against an online gambling syndicate involving 10 officials of the Communication and Digitalization Ministry.

The new arrests bring the total number of suspects to 18, police spokesman Chief Comr. Ade Ary Syam Indradi said on Monday. “They include 10 Communication Ministry officials and eight private citizens,” he said.

His remarks came a day after police arrested two individuals at Soekarno Hatta Airport’s international arrival terminal in Tangerang, Banten, suggesting that they had just returned from a foreign country.

The 10 ministry officials are accused of helping online gambling website operators continue to operate in Indonesia in exchange for bribes in violation of their main task of taking down all gambling sites and apps without exception. They have been suspended by Minister Meutya Hafid since police named them suspects.

Wira Satya Triputra, the Jakarta Police’s director of criminal investigation, identified the two new suspects by their initials MN and DM but provided no further details. 

MN is alleged to have brokered ministry officials and gambling operators and channeled the bribe money.

“MN has channeled money [to ministry officials] and provided the list of gambling websites that shouldn’t be shut down,” Wira said on Sunday.

DM is alleged to have collected the bribes on behalf of the disgraced officials, the officer added.

On Thursday, the Jakarta Police announced the confiscation of Rp 73.7 billion ($4.7 million) in cash, 16 cars, 11 luxury watches, and various other valuable items from the syndicate.

Investigators also seized two firearms, 34 cellphones, 23 laptops, 20 paintings, 16 PC monitors, 215.5 grams of gold, and a motorcycle from the suspects.

Most of the suspects were arrested during a raid in a makeshift office in Bekasi last week.

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