"We, the Bali Police, along with the Counter Transnational Organized Crime task force and the National Polices Criminal Investigation Department will move the 27 foreign nationals to Jakarta," Adjunct Senior Commissioner Ruddy Setiawan of the Bali Police stated here, Monday.
The police transferred the suspects to conduct further investigation along with other Chinese arrested in Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java, for similar crimes.
In addition to the Chinese and Taiwanese, four Indonesians involved in the crime were transferred to Jakarta.
The 27 Chinese and Taiwanese were arrested during a raid on a luxury home located in South Kuta, Badung District, Bali Province, on Saturday (July 29).
Some 38 phones, 25 modems, seven routers, 10 laptops, eight cellular phones, CCTVs, and six passports were seized during an operation by a joint team involving members of the Indonesian and Chinese Police.
Last Saturday, a joint team of police officers had also arrested 27 Chinese nationals for their alleged role in an international cybercrime syndicate in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta.
Under the garb of being law enforcement officers, they were found to have swindled and extorted money from fellow Chinese nationals, Chief of the Public Information Bureau of the National Police Brigadier General Rikwanto said.
The syndicate, comprising 15 men and 12 women, threatened the victims by accusing them of being involved in a legal case, he remarked.
They later demanded a sum of money in return for acquitting them of legal charges, he revealed.
"Only after transferring a sum of money did they realize that they had been cheated and later reported the case to the Chinese police," he pointed out, adding that the syndicate had been operating in Indonesia since March this year.
On the same day, Surabayas Police arrested 81 Chinese and 12 Taiwanese for allegedly committing cybercrimes. They were also later transferred to Jakarta.
(F001/B019)
Editor: Bayu Kuncahyo
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
