Bali Police Hunt Russian Foreigners To Master Theoo Of Lithuanian Foreigners

DENPASAR - The Bali Regional Police are hunting for a foreign national (WNA) from Russia who is the mastermind behind the robbery and abuse of a Lithuanian foreign man, Roman Smeliov (42).

Bali Police Chief Inspector General Daniel Adityajaya said one DPO with the initials GG was the mastermind of the four alleged perpetrators who had been arrested, namely two Russian nationals, Iuri Vithcenko (30) and Ilia Shkutov (32), as well as two Balinese Immigration employees, Ernest Esmail and Yopita Barinda Putri.

"We are still pursuing GG perpetrators," he said, Friday, August 1.

The Kapolda explained that the perpetrators planned this crime very organized from January to July 2025 to find the target of foreigners until they ended up making a mistake when robbing Roman Smeliov from Lithuania.

Initially, the GG perpetrator contacted and met Ernest Ezmail to find Mr. R from Russia to be targeted for debt and deceived Rp2.3 billion.

The GG perpetrator initially gave a sum of Rp. 3 million to Ernest Ezmail, but if the Rp. 2.3 M money is obtained, it will be divided again.

However, after molesting Roman Smeliov, the perpetrators were arrested by the police and the perpetrator GG fled somewhere.

According to the Bali Police Chief, apart from committing extortion, the Russian citizens are also suspected of being involved in kidnapping, molestation, forced transfers through crypto, drugs, prostitution, and money laundering through crypto.

"All of this is still being investigated by the Bali Police Ditreskrimum," said Daniel.