Jakarta Metropolitan Police have arrested 48 suspects who are citizens of China and Taiwan related to cases of alleged extortion through dating apps.
The arrests are the result of cooperation alongside the Taiwanese police.
Head of Public Relations of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Brigadier General Yusri Yunus explained that the suspects consisted of 44 men and four women.
“The victims are in China while the perpetrators are in Indonesia,” he said.
Yusri said that his team received a report from the Taiwan Police regarding the alleged crime. Responding to this information, his team began to move to find the perpetrators.
“From the results of the profiling, the Jakarta Metropolitan Police secured 48 people at three crime scenes, namely Jalan Cengkeh, Ruko 22, West Jakarta, Mangga Besar, and a shophouse in the Mediterranean Complex, Gajah Mada, West Jakarta,” Yusri explained.
Director of Special Criminal Investigation of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Chief Commissioner Auliansyah Lubis said the tactic used by the suspects was to connect with victims through dating apps in China.
The perpetrators got to know the victims through the apps. As time went on, their communication became more intimate and turned to personal chat through WeChat or Line.
“When chatting, they did sexual activities by phone. This consisted of telling them to take off their clothes and show their genitals and so on and the perpetrators recorded the images. After recording, they then began to threaten the victims to give money to the perpetrators, otherwise, the images would be distributed,” ??said Auliasyah.
The perpetrators were charged under a range of articles under law number 19 of 2016 concerning the second amendment to law number 11 of 2008 concerning information and electronic transactions (ITE).
Head of the Immigration Division of the DKI Jakarta Law and Human Rights Regional Office Saffar Muhammad Godam added that his team took the 48 suspects to the Immigration Detention Centre and are waiting for the results of further coordination with the Taiwan Police.
“We are also conducting an investigation into possible immigration violations committed,” said Saffar.