Indonesian police arrest more than 300 foreigners in major crackdown on online gambling operation

Indonesian police arrested more than 300 foreigners in a major crackdown on an alleged online gambling operation based in West Jakarta, media reports said Sunday.

Those arrested were 321 foreign nationals and 228 Vietnamese in a raid Saturday on an office building, according to the Jakarta Globe newspaper.

Other suspects included 57 Chinese, 11 Laotians, 13 Myanmar nationals and others, according to Brig. Gen. Wira Satya Triputra, director of general crimes at the National Criminal Investigation Agency.

Wira said preliminary investigations showed the illegal gambling activities had been operating for around two months.

Police seized electronic devices and digital operational systems believed to have been used to manage servers and facilitate cross-border gambling transactions.

Investigators are investigating potential additional offenses related to immigration violations, money laundering and transnational cybercrime.

Urban centers such as West Jakarta are often viewed as strategic locations for international cybercrime networks because of their reliable internet infrastructure and abundance of high-rise office buildings that allow illegal activities to blend into the city environment.