East Java Police Dismantle Syndicate Of UTBK SBMPTN Jockeys, Graduates 41 People With 2.5 Billion Income

Head of the Public Relations Division of the Indonesian National Police, Inspector General Dedi Prasetyo. (photo: doc. voi)

JAKARTA - The East Java Regional Police (Jatim) arrested a syndicate of Computer-Based Writing Tests-Joint Selection to Enter State Universities (UTBK-SBMPTN). In this case, eight people were named as suspects.

"There are eight suspects who helped the participants in the UTBK-SBMPTN," said Head of the Public Relations Division of the National Police Inspector General Dedi Prasetyo in his statement, Sunday, July 17.

The suspects had the initials MJ, RHB, MSN, ASP, MBBS, MSME and RF. They have their respective roles.

Based on the results of the examination, the roles of the suspects ranged from jockeys, tool makers or assemblers, briefing teams, operator teams, and team masters.

"The work system carried out by this group is that MJ as the coordinator of the syndicate accepts deposits from SBMPTN exam participants," he said.

"Furthermore, the briefing team went to the prospective participants to explain the use of the tools and to install the devices on the participants' bodies," continued Dedi.

Then, this syndicate acts by using advanced technology. For example, when participants or jockeys take an exam, they are provided with a watch that can take pictures.

So, the camera on the watch took pictures of the exam questions. Then, the photos are sent to the master team to work on the problem.

After the questions are done by the master, the answers are handed over to the operator again to be read through the microphones used by the participants.

The investigation also revealed that this syndicate had been operating for the last two years. In fact, once the syndicate takes action, it charges Rp. 100 million to Rp. 400 million

"This jockey syndicate has been running for quite a long time, and based on the suspect's information in 2020, 41 participants were able to graduate with an income of IDR 2,500,000,000," said Dedi.

"In 2021, there will be 69 people from various majors and various universities with an income of IDR 6,000,000,000," added Dedi.

For his actions, the suspect is suspected of violating Article 32 paragraph (2) Subsidiary to Article 48 paragraph (2) of Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning amendments to Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions in conjunction with 55 of the Criminal Code.