Police Unload Illegal IMEI Cases, 2 ASN Suspects Of The Ministry Of Industry And Customs And Excise

Illegal IMEI case release (Photo: DOK VOI/Rizky AP)

The Directorate of Cyber Crime, Bareskrim Polri, has uncovered an illegal International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) registration case in the CEIR (Centralized Equipment Identity Register) system. Six people were named as suspects, two of whom are members of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) and the Director General of Customs and Excise. "From the results of this disclosure, we have arrested 6 suspects," said the Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police, Komjen Wahyu Widada, to reporters, Friday, July 28. Two suspects are individuals, namely F who is a State Civil Apparatus (ASN) at the Ministry of Industry and A at the Director General of Customs and Excise. Meanwhile, the other four suspects are private parties who play the role of suppliers of illegal electronic devices without rights in the entry stage. They have the initials P, D, E, and P. The disclosure of this illegal access case began with a police report with the number LP/B/009/II/2023/SPKT/Bareskrim Polri, dated February 14, 2023. Then, investigative and investigative steps were taken. Until finally managed to arrest the suspects. The modus operandi of the suspects was not to submit the IMEI application process to the Ministry of Communication and Information "The brief chronology of October 10-20, 2022, there was an upload of IMEI into the CIER Ministry of Industry system totaling 191,965 IMEIs," he said. "It is known that there are also e-commerce accounts that sell services to unblock IMEI on behalf of the Ministry of Industry illegally," Wahyu continued. In fact, the actions of the suspects caused state losses which were estimated at Rp353 billion. "Earlier, what these perpetrators had done for 10 days, there were allegations of state losses, where the recapitulation of IMEI 191,965 pieces was calculated with 11.5 percent PPh, while the alleged state loss was around Rp353,748,000,000," Wahyu said.

In this case, the suspects are subject to Article 46 paragraph 1, Article 30 paragraph 1, Article 48 paragraph 1, in conjunction with Article 32 paragraph 1, Article 51 paragraph 1 in conjunction with Article 35 of Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning amendments to Law 11 of 2008 concerning ITE (Information and Electronic Transactions) with a penalty of 12 years in prison.