Illegal Gold Hidden in Suitcase Walls

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - One of the upscale residential complexes in Jakarta’s Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) neighborhood suddenly became a scene of commotion on Tuesday night, August 25, 2026. More than a dozen officers from the Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) raided a two-story white house.

Police suspected the luxury home was being used as an illegal gold refining and processing site linked to a network in China. Led by Brig. Gen. Mohammad Irhamni, Director of the Special Crimes Directorate, officers immediately searched every corner of the house.

But the house, rented by a Chinese national identified by the initials CGZ, was already empty. The tenant had fled after police stepped up operations against an illegal gold smuggling network in recent weeks. “He may have gotten scared and fled,” Irhamni told Tempo the day after the raid.

The police did not leave empty-handed. They found evidence reinforcing their suspicion that the site was part of a gold-smuggling network. Investigators, for example, found a device for testing gold purity and digital scales. There was also equipment for melting gold and Rp50 million (about US$2,800) in cash.