Bareskrim Seizes Illegal Gold Refinery Worth Rp114 Billion in Sidoarjo

Investigators from the Directorate of Special Economic Crimes (Dittipideksus) at Bareskrim Polri seized a gold refinery owned by PT Simba Jaya Utama (SJU) in the Berbek Industri area, Waru District, Sidoarjo Regency, East Java, on Thursday (11/6). This firm action was taken after police uncovered an inter-island illegal gold business network worth Rp114.2 billion involving money laundering offences (TPPU). The seizure of the factory is a development from the case of illegal gold mining activities (PETI) in West Kalimantan and West Papua. The Director of Special Economic Crimes (Dirtipideksus) at Bareskrim Polri, Brigadier General Ade Safri Simanjuntak, revealed that the modus operandi of this crime was to disguise the origin of illegal gold through a refining process so it could be sold legally on the market. “The suspects allegedly carried out a series of actions to disguise the origin of gold from unlicensed mining by refining it through PT Simba Jaya Utama,” said Ade Safri at the seizure location on Thursday (11/6). Police have named four suspects in this case: TW, DW, BSW, and SB alias A, who is the Director of PT SJU. Suspects TW, DW, and BSW acted as collectors and buyers of gold from illegal mines. Meanwhile, SB alias A acted as the smelter and refiner of the raw gold into pure gold with a 99.99% purity level under the PT SJU brand to be marketed legally. This illegal practice is known to have been operating for five years, from 2019 to 2024. From the refining services, suspect SB alias A allegedly reaped personal profits of Rp26.2 billion. Besides seizing the factory, police also searched the Toko Emas Semar in Nganjuk and confiscated assets with a total value of Rp114.2 billion. The four suspects are now detained at the Bareskrim Polri Detention Centre and charged with multiple articles, ranging from the Mining and Coal Law, the Criminal Code, to the Law on the Prevention and Eradication of Money Laundering. Ade Safri asserted that his party will continue asset tracing in various regions to reveal all parties involved in this network.