In Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, police dismantled a major online gambling syndicate on Nov. 7, arresting 15 people, including 11 officials from the Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs.
A law enforcement spokesman, Ade Ary Syam Indradi, said that authorities seized a significant amount of valuable property during the operation, including $4.7 million in cash, 16 cars, 11 luxury watches, 34 mobile phones, 23 laptops, and two pistols.
On the same day, Hassan Nasbi, head of the Presidential Communication Office, said President Prabowo Subianto highlighted four critical issues at the Cabinet plenary: zero tolerance for online gambling, drugs, smuggling, and corruption.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Technology Minister, Meutia Hafid also made a statement. According to her, in his directives, the president asked all ministries and institutions to unite in the fight against online gambling as most of the victims are low-income people.
It was mentioned that several institutions or agencies, such as the National Police, Attorney General’s Office, the Office of Coordinating Political and Security Affairs Minister, and not just these three, all institutions should work together. There must be no helping individuals involved in online gambling.”
The Ministry of Communications and Digital Technologies blocked more than 220,000 online gambling websites from October 20 to November 8, 2024.
“As of Nov. 3, we have blocked more than 220,000 online gambling sites based on our key performance indicators,” Meutya said.
In just one day, the ministry took action against 8,086 online gambling-related materials, including 6,722 websites, 954 on the Meta platform, 279 on file-sharing platforms, 77 on Google/YouTube, and 54 on the X (Twitter) platform.
More information: Google News
