Police Arrest 24 Foreign Nationals Linked to Online Gambling Live Streams on Facebook in Batam

The Deputy Head of Criminal Investigation for Special Crimes at the Riau Islands Provincial Police, Senior Commissioner Silvester Simamora, stated that the case disclosure began with information from the public received by police on 10 May 2026. “We obtained the information from the public, either directly or through social media and the internet. After that, the Ditreskrimsus team of the Riau Islands Provincial Police conducted an investigation,” said Silvester, as quoted by detikSumut on Tuesday (12/5/2026). From the investigation results, police identified two crime scenes used as bases for the online gambling operations. At these two locations, police secured three Cambodian nationals consisting of two men and one woman. Then, 14 Vietnamese nationals consisting of seven men and seven women. “In addition, officers also secured one Syrian national, two Chinese nationals, and four Filipino nationals consisting of three men and one woman,” he said. Silvester explained that the perpetrators ran the online gambling modus operandi in the form of Hong Kong Lottery through live broadcasts on Facebook. The operators offered lottery games using dragon-image cards with certain betting amounts. “They conducted live streaming on social media Facebook, then offered cards with certain amounts to customers,” he said.