Judol Headquarters in Medan Apartment Was Raided, Police Seized 1,800 SIM Cards

MEDAN - The North Sumatra Regional Police team raided the headquarters of an online gambling operator (judol) at the Royal Condominium Apartment, Jalan Palang Merah, Medan Baru District, Medan City. Officers managed to arrest 19 perpetrators who had roles ranging from leaders, marketing, to operators.

"In this action, we arrested 19 people who were carrying out activities to support online gambling activities. We also found several pieces of evidence that are suspected of supporting online gambling activities," said the Director of Cyber Criminal Investigation of the North Sumatra Police, Kombes Pol Bayu Wicaksono, in his statement, Thursday, March 26.

He said officers raided rooms 705, 601, and room 1005 at the Royal Condominium Apartment which was used as the headquarters of an online gambling operator on Monday, March 16.

From the three rooms that were searched, the officers arrested a total of 19 perpetrators, including eight women. Their roles vary, ranging from leaders, operators, to online gambling marketing.

The perpetrators who were arrested included initials TL, RS, RH, MAI, AA, TR, LAP, AT, RDS, DS, RA, BA, DL, LD, RZ, MB, MJ, and BH. They were immediately taken to the North Sumatra Police Headquarters for further development.

Bayu Wicaksono explained that this raid began with information received by officers from the community. Officers then conducted an investigation and raided room number 705, which led to the arrest of a number of perpetrators who were carrying out online gambling activities. The raid was then continued to rooms 601 and 1005, which again resulted in arrests.

Bayu revealed that the modus operandi of this syndicate was to promote online gambling sites through social media, which were then sent to the public.

"During the two years of operation, their turnover reached Rp. 7 billion. However, from TKP 1 and 2, we found different turnovers every day, ranging from Rp. 4 million to Rp. 6 million per day," he said.

In addition to arresting 19 perpetrators, officers also secured a number of evidence, including 79 hand phones, four computers, one laptop, 12 CPU units, 16 monitor screen units, and 1,800 phone SIM cards from various providers.

Currently, 19 perpetrators who have been named as suspects are languishing in the North Sumatra Police detention cell. They are charged with Article 426 about gambling with a threat of 9 years in prison.