Immigration Arrest 103 Foreigners In Bali Allegedly Cyber Crime Syndicate

JAKARTA - The Directorate of Immigration Supervision and Enforcement of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kemenkumham) arrested 103 foreign nationals (WNA) in Bali on suspicion of abusing immigration permits and committing cyber crimes.

Director General (Dirjen) of Immigration Silmy Karim explained that hundreds of foreigners were arrested through the Bali Becik operation on Wednesday (26/6).

"There are 14 Taiwanese citizens, while the other is not yet known. Officers are currently investigating," said Silmy as stated in a written statement, Thursday, June 27.

Silmy said immigration routinely conducts surveillance operations in all immigration offices throughout Indonesia. This is an immigration commitment to supervise foreigners in the country.

"Kejahatan yang dilakukan orang asing merupakan salah satu tindak pidana yang sering kami ditemukan di lapangan. Dengan operasi pengawasan WNA seperti ini, imigrasi juga mendukung Satgas Pemberantasan Perjudian Online," ujar Dirjen Imigrasi.

Director of Supervision and Enforcement of Immigration Safar Muhammad Godam explained that the Bali Becik operation which managed to arrest 103 foreigners on Wednesday (26/6) starting at 10.00 WITA.

Some of the immigration team, he said, carried out a closed operation to oversee a villa in Marga District, Tabanan Regency, Bali. Furthermore, at 14.00 WITA, information was obtained that there were foreigners' activities at that location.

"At 17.00 WITA, we managed to arrest 103 foreigners consisting of 12 women and 91 men," added Safar.

Safar suspects that the foreigner abused his residence permit. In addition, immigration is investigating the alleged cyber crime they committed, given the evidence that was secured.

"They are suspected of not having documents and misuse of immigration permits, and are currently being investigated for the possibility of cyber crime based on the number of computers and cellphones found at the scene," said Safar.

At 18.00 WITA, he continued, the Bali Becik surveillance operation team secured all these foreigners along with evidence. They will undergo examination and be placed in the Denpasar Immigration Detention Center, Bali for the time being.