Police questions 14 suspects in online gambling case involving Komdigi

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The General Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police questioned 14 suspects arrested in an alleged online gambling case involving individuals at the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi).

"Update for today (is that) we have arrested 14 suspects and will continue to deepen (investigation into) this case," Director of Criminal Investigation of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Senior Commissioner Wira Satya Triputra noted in a statement from his office on Saturday.

He revealed that out of the 14 suspects, 11 are employees of the Ministry of Communication and Digital and three are civilians.

"We will be tracing the perpetrators' assets resulting from the crime," Triputra remarked.

On Friday (November 1), Triputra said his side searched the Ministry of Communication and Digital office in connection with the alleged case of authority abuse to block online gambling sites.

"There was a search at the ministry office," Head of Public Relations of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Senior Commissioner Ade Ary Syam Indradi, confirmed on Friday.

According to Indradi, the search was led by Triputra and Deputy Director of Criminal Investigation, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Aldi Subartono.

During the search, the police presented four suspects. However, they did not detail the identities of the four suspects presented.

"The search was carried out on the second, third, and eighth floors of the office," Indradi added.

He remarked that during the search, the team retrieved multiple containers filled with evidence seized from the ministry office.

"They confiscated several personal laptops, several documents, and computers also from the suspects, including an in-depth process on their work to filter the entire web, verified, and blocked the web," Indradi revealed.

On Friday, Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Meutya Hafid also allowed law enforcement officers to clean up online gambling practices within her ministry.

"I had coordinated with the police chief and regional police chief. I allowed them to clean up this matter," she noted at the Presidential Palace complex.