JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian police arrested 321 foreign nationals on Saturday in a raid on an alleged online gambling operation in a commercial building near Jakarta’s Chinatown, authorities said, in one of the largest crackdowns on illegal digital betting networks in the Muslim-majority country.
The raid, carried out by the Indonesian National Police’s general crimes division, targeted what investigators described as a hub for more than 70 online gambling websites. Wira Satya Triputra, the director of general crimes, said the suspects were arrested “in the act while they were carrying out activities related to online gambling.” He said the operation was organized in a structured manner, with workers assigned roles in customer service, telemarketing, and financial administration, and had likely been active for about two months.
Among the 321 arrested were 228 Vietnamese, 57 Chinese, and individuals from Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. Triputra said many of the suspects entered Indonesia using short-term visitor visas and overstayed their permits while working at the operation, and that “immigration violations were uncovered in addition to suspected gambling and money-laundering offenses.” Police seized cash in multiple currencies, computers, mobile phones, passports, and other equipment believed to have been used to manage at least 75 betting platforms.
As of Saturday, 275 of those detained had been formally named as suspects, while others remained under questioning. Those charged could face up to nine years in prison and a fine of 2 billion rupiah ($116,000), Triputra said.
Untung Widyatmoko, secretary of Indonesia’s Interpol bureau, said authorities have detected signs that online gambling operators previously based in Myanmar and Cambodia are relocating to other countries, including Indonesia, after authorities there cracked down.
“After enforcement measures in Cambodia, we started to see a shift toward Indonesia, and that was something we anticipated,” Widyatmoko said.
The Jakarta raid is part of a widening enforcement effort. On Wednesday, about 210 foreign nationals — including 47 women — from Vietnam, China, and Myanmar were arrested in an immigration surveillance operation on Indonesia’s Batam island, next to Singapore, on suspicion of involvement in online investment fraud. Authorities in Surabaya announced Friday that they had arrested 44 foreigners from Japan and China for posing as police officers in a cross-border telephone and online scam ring, following the arrest of 13 Japanese men in West Java’s Bogor city in the same case in March. Last month, about 16 suspects of an international scamming network from China, Malaysia, and Taiwan were arrested in West Java’s Sukabumi regency, and 26 alleged online scammers, including people from the Philippines and Kenya, were deported from Bali.
Online gambling is illegal in Indonesia, which has stepped up enforcement amid concerns over organized crime and cross-border cyber operations. Police said the investigation could lead to additional arrests tied to international networks.