Indonesian police have arrested 321 foreign nationals, most of them from Vietnam, in one of the country’s largest crackdowns yet on illegal online gambling an activity strictly banned in the world’s largest Muslim‑majority nation.
The arrests took place on Saturday inside an office building in Central Jakarta, where authorities say the group had been running a sophisticated online gambling operation for the past two months. According to Wira Satya Triputra, director of the national police crime investigation unit, the suspects include 228 Vietnamese, 57 Chinese, 13 from Myanmar, 11 from Laos, five from Thailand, and three from Cambodia.
Of the 321 detained, 275 face charges under Indonesia’s criminal code on gambling, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of nine years in prison. Wira said most of the suspects knowingly entered Indonesia to work in online gambling networks, targeting customers outside the country.
Interpol Indonesia official Untung Widyatmoko noted a growing trend: online gambling operations are increasingly shifting from Cambodian cities to Indonesia, prompting heightened surveillance and cross‑border cooperation.
This is Indonesia’s second major raid in just two days. On Friday, immigration authorities arrested 210 foreign nationals on Batam island near Singapore for allegedly running online investment scams.
The back‑to‑back operations underscore Indonesia’s escalating campaign against international cybercrime syndicates using the country as a regional base.
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