"Five suspects are being investigated. Earlier, we did not know who they were, but we now have the facts (hoax and provocation). We are still conducting the investigation process," Insp. Gen. Ari Dono S, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Indonesian National Police, stated in Jakarta.
Ari Dono made the remarks on the occasion of the signing of a coordination agreement on corruption indication between the Government Internal Supervisory Apparatuses and law enforcement officials in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The Indonesian police have arrested at least five people, who are members of the MCA Whatsapp group, from different areas in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta; Pangkal Pinang; Bali; Sumedang, West Java; and Palu, Central Sulawesi.
Based on evidence gathered by the police, the MCA group disseminates provocative and false rumors on sensitive issues of religious, racial, ethnic, and group differences through the Whatsapp communication network.
Hoax issues propagated by the MCA group are generally linked to communism and the torture of ulamas, or Muslim scholars. The modus operandi of the MCA group is similar to the Saracen hoax-spreading group that the police had exposed.
"We can now prove the presence of media news reports, which are false. We are going to process this," Ari Dono added.
(A014/INE)
(T.A014/B/KR-BSR/F001)
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
