Banten Police Collaborate With PPATK To Investigate Online And Conventional Gambling Suspects' Fund Flow

Head of Public Relations of Banten Police Kombes Shinto Silitonga/Photo: Doc. Banten Police

SERANG – In uncovering gambling cases, the Banten Police cooperated with PPATK to help investigators trace the flow of funds. The Head of Public Relations of the Banten Police, Kombes Shinto Silitonga, explained that PPATK was involved because the amount of money managed by this gambling syndicate was quite large.

"The Banten Police Chief ordered Criminal Investigation Officers at the Polda and Polres ranks to continue to take action and disclose all forms of gambling down to the dealer level. And asked investigators not to hesitate to apply suspicions of money laundering crimes by involving the role of PPATK to be able to trace assets resulting from crimes by the principle of follow the money and follow the assets," explained Shinto via text message, Thursday, August 25.

In addition to collaborating with PPATK, the Banten Police are also coordinating with Kominfo to be able to block online gambling sites. As a result, dozens of online gambling sites were successfully blocked and used as evidence.

"Banten Police have identified 71 online gambling sites from the disclosure of these 29 cases and will immediately coordinate also send a letter to the Ministry of Communication and Information to block these online gambling websites," added Shinto.

Finally, the Banten Police Chief appreciated the active participation of the community together in eradicating all forms of gambling with the Banten Police and again motivated the public not to hesitate to convey the slightest information about gambling to the Banten Police Ditreskrimum Gambling Command Post.

"People who have information about gambling in any form can contact the operator of the post office for combating gambling at the Ditreskrimum of the Banten Police. The Banten Police guarantees the security of the identity of the people who provide information and ensures that they will immediately follow up on the information provided to the command post," he concluded.

Previously, the Banten Police revealed gambling cases, both online and conventional, with 65 suspects from 29 cases.

"On August 13, 2022, the Banten Police released the disclosure of 10 gambling cases with 24 suspects. And today, Thursday (25 August), we uncovered 29 gambling cases and 65 suspects, both committed by the Ditreskrimum of the Banten Police and the ranks of the Police," concluded Shinto.

Shinto said the amount of money that had been confiscated from this gambling crime was quite a lot.

"From the disclosure of these 29 gambling cases, investigators managed to confiscate IDR 947,585,500 of money, the most from an online gambling syndicate under the guise of an advertising company amounting to IDR 931 million, but it turns out that the company opened 50 websites which were apparently used not for advertising service promotions but for various online gambling slots," he explained.