Police arrest four for cutting fibre optic cables in Pademangan over unfair business competition

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Pademangan Police Criminal Investigation Unit has arrested four suspects for vandalising a telecommunications network in Pademangan Timur, North Jakarta, an act allegedly triggered by unfair business competition.

The four suspects, identified by their initials as AS (22), NN (24), MR (23), and SM (23), were apprehended just hours after the incident on Friday night.

Head of the Pademangan Police Criminal Investigation Unit explained that the act began with an instruction from a suspect, identified only as B, who remains at large. B allegedly ordered MR to cut the internet connection belonging to PT TKP. The suspects then used pliers and a ladder to sever a seven-metre and a 25-metre fibre optic cable, causing a disruption to local internet services.

Following a report, the unit moved swiftly and arrested the three executors at the scene before later capturing MR through further investigation. The four suspects and the evidence are now in custody at Pademangan Police Station.

The suspects are charged under Article 38 of Law Number 36 of 1999 on Telecommunications, in conjunction with Article 55 and/or Article 262 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, and Article 20 letters b, c, d of the Criminal Code, with a subsidiary charge under Article 521 paragraph 1. They face a maximum sentence of six years in prison.