Indonesia deports 143 suspects

Indonesian authorities yesterday deported 143 Chinese said to be involved in a cyber-fraud ring following their arrests at three locations around the country.

A police spokesman said they were being flown to a Chinese city from Jakarta using Chinese airlines. They would be taken into custody by Chinese police soon after their arrival, Didik Sugiarto said. 

He told reporters that there were indications they were all part of the same network.

At the airport in the Indonesian capital they wore blue, orange and pink T-shirts, indicating the different locations of their arrests, which were made in Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali over the weekend after a tip-off from police in China. 

Didik said the Indonesian police were still holding four people from Taiwan and one Malaysian national related to the gang’s operations in Indonesia.

He said that five Indonesians implicated in the fraud were also detained.

“Those Indonesians worked as domestic helpers, drivers and translators for the gang,” Didik said.

Investigations into the activities of the detainees are under way at Jakarta police headquarters.

It has been reported that the gang amassed some US$450 million during their operations in Indonesia since late last year. 

They are said to have extorted money from people in China embroiled in legal cases.