More online gambling arrests in Indonesia

Indonesian police report that raids on an online gambling ring Friday resulted in the arrest of nine local men and the seizure of some Rp 1 billion (US$103,600) from an illegal business that operated in Jakarta and Surakarta, Central Java.

The Jakarta Post newspaper quoted police spokesman Senior Commissioner Rikwanto, who told reporters at a press conference that the business had been in operation since 2010 in Johar Baru, Central Jakarta, with a daily income of Rp 30 million to Rp 50 million.

“The police traced the account used and found that funds had been transferred to an account in Surakarta,” Rikwanto said. “In Surakarta, the suspects could reap up to Rp 300 million a day from the business.”

Rikwanto added that the suspects were involved with togel (an illegal lottery) and were connected to a bookie in Singapore.

The police are still searching for other suspects as they found 150 additional bank accounts that had made suspicious transactions to the source account.

“We believe that some of them are the gamblers, but we are still tracing them,” Rikwanto said. “In the meantime, we have blocked all the accounts.”

Two websites were used to facilitate the betting, ibcbet.com and sbobet.com, according to the police. Commissioner Rikwanto said police had requested the Communications and Information Ministry to ISP block the sites.

The perpetrators, if convicted, will face a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.