Coordinating Minister For Human Rights Calls Repatriation Of DPOs From The Philippines Using MLA Agreement

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections (Kumham Imipas) Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that the repatriation of one suspect in the wanted list (DPO) from the Philippines was carried out with a bilateral agreement through Balikbal Assistance in Criminal Problems or Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) in Criminal Matters.

One person in the DPO with the initials HS (40) is a suspect in an online gambling case on the W88 website, which was repatriated to Indonesia, last Thursday after being arrested by security forces in the Philippines.

"This is a request from Indonesia and was approved by the Philippines through the MLA in Criminal Matters agreement," said Yusril when contacted in Jakarta, Antara, Friday, November 22.

Regarding the possibility of repatriating Indonesian citizens (WNI) who are included in other DPOs from the Philippines, Yusril said this was the authority of the Indonesian National Police (Polri), so they could not answer further.

However, he explained that the return of the DPO to the country of origin was not only carried out by the Philippines to Indonesia because Indonesia had also done the same thing in early September 2024.

At that time, the National Police handed over a fugitive from the former Mayor of Bamban, Philippines, Alice Guo, who was arrested in Tangerang, Tuesday (3/9), to the Philippine government. Meanwhile, Alice was sent home with a deportation mechanism through increased cooperation between the police.

Alice's arrest was made by the National Police at the request of the Philippine Police. Alice is suspected of being involved in criminal cases of online gambling, money laundering, and human trafficking.

"So the repatriation of Indonesian citizens suspected of online gambling who entered the DPO is the same as when the Indonesian government repatriated the former Mayor of Bamban," he explained.

At a press conference in Tangerang, Banten, Friday morning, Head of Sub-Directorate 2 of the Directorate of Cyber Crime (Dittipidsiber) of the National Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Kombes Pol. Jeffri Dian Juniarta, said that the repatriation of suspect HS alias Ahan was carried out after being arrested by the Philippine security forces on October 31, 2024.

"HS is the result of the development of seven suspects who were previously arrested in the Batam area," said Jeffri.

He explained that the case was first revealed in May 2024. Then the investigative team carried out developments until they finally succeeded in repatriating the suspect who had previously entered the DPO.

He revealed that HS' role is as a special regional manager for Indonesia as a recipient of deposit and withdraw accounts or withdrawal fees on the W88 website.

"Website W88 has a three-month circulation of money. When we arrested the case, one trillion rupiahs," he said.

In June, the Dittipidsiber Bareskrim Polri released the disclosure of three online gambling sites, namely 1XBET, W88 and Liga Ciputra, by arresting 18 suspects. It is estimated that the circulation of money from the three sites reached Rp1,041 trillion.