More than 300 foreigners arrested in Jakarta raid on online gambling operation

JAKARTA, May 9 (Reuters) – Indonesian police arrested 321 foreign nationals, mainly from Vietnam, on Saturday for suspected involvement in banned online gambling, officials said.

• The suspects “were arrested at an office building in central Jakarta as authorities continue their crackdown on online gambling – which is banned in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country – and international crime syndicates.

• Those arrested include 228 people from Vietnam, 57 from China, 13 from Myanmar, 11 from Laos, five from Thailand and three from Cambodia, Wira Satya Triputra, director of the Indonesian police’s criminal investigation unit, said at a news conference.

• The suspects have been running the online gambling operation for two months, Wira said.

• Of the 321 people arrested, he said, 275 were “accused of violating Indonesia’s penal code on gambling, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of nine years.”

• Wira said most foreigners knew they had come to Indonesia to run online gaming operations, adding that they “largely targeted foreign customers”.

• An official from Interpol Indonesia, Untung Widyatmoko, said at the press conference that there is a trend of moving online gambling operations from Cambodian cities to Indonesia.

• It was the second roundup of a large group of foreigners in two days. Indonesian immigration authorities on Friday arrested 210 foreign nationals allegedly involved in online investment scams on the island of Batam, about 20 km from Singapore.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; editing by Aidan Lewis)