The Jakarta Police revealed over the weekend that they had arrested six suspects on Wednesday last week for managing an online gambling website kakakdewa.net with a daily turnover of between Rp 300 million (US$33,000) and Rp 400 million.
“All six were arrested during a raid at a house in Pasar Minggu’s Jati Padang subdistrict in South Jakarta on Feb. 29,” police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto told reporters on Saturday.
Police confiscated seven PCs, nine modems, four online-banking PIN tokens, three calculators, and a cell phone during the raid. They also withdrew Rp 300 million from two bank accounts belonging to the website’s owner.
The six suspects were identified as LAS, 24; RC, 23; OPP, 21; EK, 21; ST, 22; and NN, 18. “Each of the six has his or her distinct jobs in managing the website. They earn between Rp 1 million and Rp 2.5 million every month,” Rikwanto said.
Police questioning has revealed that LAS was the one who checked the money deposited by members and transferred money prizes to winning members. RC and OPP managed the user IDs and passwords; EK updated data on deposited money; ST managed customer services through Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk, and NN erased data of members who lost their bets.
Even though gambling is officially illegal in Indonesia, underground gambling practices both online and offline are rampant in many cities in the country.
Rikwanto said the six suspects had been running the illegal business for around two years and the website currently had some 22,000 members.
The head of the general crimes detective unit, chief Sr. Comr. Toni Harmanto, said the membership was widespread, across Indonesia and abroad.
The website — which has now been deactivated — was advertised on the Google website via Google Ads as well as on the advertising website i-comers.com, police said. The online betting service was also advertised on Facebook and on kaskus.us, a hugely popular internet forum in Indonesia.
Visitors were encouraged by the ads to register and deposit at least Rp 200,000 at kakakdewa.net. Members would then receive a user ID, a password and a personal stash of Rp 1,000 coins with which to gamble at international online betting sites.
Website owner and ringleader RH, 51, is still at large.
“Our officers are trying to hunt him down as we speak,” Rikwanto said, adding that the police believe that kakakdewa.net might be connected to other similar sites.
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