Following PPATK, Immigration Also Denies Being Caught Off Guard Regarding the Arrest of 320 Foreign Nationals in Online Gambling Syndicate
The Directorate General of Immigration has denied any lapses that allowed 320 foreign nationals to run an international online gambling syndicate in the Hayam Wuruk area of West Jakarta. Instead, Immigration claims success in arresting problematic foreign nationals at other locations.
In response to the recent surge in criminal cases involving foreign nationals, Director General of Immigration Hendarsam Marantoko emphasised that oversight of foreigners’ presence and activities will continue to be strengthened. Hendarsam clarified that perceptions from various parties regarding lax immigration oversight are inaccurate.
“I need to clarify that Immigration did not ‘slip up’. On the contrary, the success of arrests of foreign nationals at various locations proves the effectiveness of our intelligence function in conducting early detection of violations by foreign nationals,” said Hendarsam in his statement on Wednesday (13/5/2026).
To bolster security, Immigration is building intensive collaboration with the National Police (Polri). This synergy is implemented through joint investigation mechanisms to comprehensively handle cross-border crimes.
“We also maintain good coordination with Polri, and yesterday the operation to arrest 320 foreign nationals in Hayam Wuruk was finally carried out,” said Hendarsam.
In recent times, Immigration has uncovered five syndicate cases involving foreign nationals in various regions of Indonesia. Data shows that during the period from 1 January to 5 May 2026, the Directorate General of Immigration has carried out 6,779 immigration administrative actions (TAK).
“Of that number, cancellations of residence permits and deportations each amounted to 2,026 actions, detentions numbered 1,404 actions, and 1,323 others were added to the blacklist,” said Hendarsam.
Hendarsam explained that examinations at several arrest locations of suspected foreign scammers showed that many suspects had not yet begun operations and some had only just started.
“This indicates that our surveillance system is working proactively before crimes occur on a wide scale,” said Hendarsam.
PPATK Response
PPATK revealed that the circulation of illicit online gambling funds reached Rp 40.3 trillion from January to March 2026. Of that amount, deposits totalled Rp 10.6 trillion.
This was stated by PPATK Head Ivan Yustiavandana in response to the uncovering of the online gambling mafia case in Hayam Wuruk, West Jakarta. Ivan denied that PPATK was caught off guard. Ivan indicated that the majority of the syndicate’s victims came from abroad. Meanwhile, PPATK’s protection mandate is only aimed at Indonesian citizens.
“Not caught off guard at all, as our focus is on domestic online gambling players,” said Ivan to Republika on Monday (11/5/2026).
Ivan explained that PPATK combats online gambling in at least five ways. “First, we collaborate with Komdigi to detect accounts and merchants used for online gambling deposits,” said Ivan.