TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Riau Islands Police raided an online gambling headquarters in a luxury apartment in Batam City, Riau Islands Province, on Thursday, November 20, 2024.
The police arrested 11 people in the raid at the Aston Pelita Apartment, Lubuk Baja, Batam City. One of them is the owner of the online gambling site while the other 10 are the employees.
“From these 11 people, we will see if all of them should be named as suspects because there is suspicion that they cannot leave this job because their ID cards and diplomas are held by Chandar, the owner of this online gambling site,” said the Riau Islands Police Chief, Insp. Gen. Yan Fitri Halimansyah, on Friday, November 21, 2024.
Each worker receives a monthly salary of Rp5-8 million. “Based on the information, these perpetrators are related to the arrests made by the Barelang Police Resort some time ago,” said Yan.
Yan said that the disclosure of this online gambling case could be the largest in the Riau Islands, as the users reach 5,800 player accounts every day.
The perpetrators used three gambling applications, named hamsawin, forwin87, and botakwin, but within them are various games, including slots, dominoes, cockfighting, and billiards.
The Criminal Investigation Director of the Riau Islands Police, Commissioner Donny Alexander, said that Chandra, also known as Monster, is the brother of an online gambling perpetrator arrested by the Barelang Police some time ago. The case is still under investigation.
“The daily revenue is estimated at Rp350 million, while the turnover is in the billions,” said Donny.
He revealed that this online gambling site was initially purchased from Cambodia. One of the distribution methods uses WhatsApp blasting. Authorities seized computers, bank accounts, and smartphones, during the raid. The perpetrators were immediately taken to the Riau Islands Police headquarters.
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