Police seize evidence, trace money flows in Central Jakarta false imprisonment case

The General Criminal Investigation Directorate of Polda Metro Jaya, together with the Central Jakarta Metropolitan Police Criminal Investigation Unit, has seized a number of crucial pieces of evidence, including electronic documents, and is tracing money flows related to a false imprisonment and extortion case implicating seven suspects. “All evidence found at the crime scene has been seized by investigators and shows consistency between the physical evidence and witness statements,” said Polda Metro Jaya General Criminal Investigation Director, Senior Commissioner Iman Imanuddin, during a press conference in Jakarta on Friday. Iman revealed that one of the strongest pieces of evidence in this case is electronic documents, namely video recordings and the chat history from WhatsApp messages and phone calls. “The digital evidence clearly shows communication between the perpetrators and the respective roles of each suspect in jointly carrying out their criminal acts,” he said. In addition to digital evidence, the investigative team also succeeded in tracing and collecting clues in the form of money flows or fund transfer transactions. “We also found or collected clues from the investigators regarding the money flows or transfers made, which demonstrate evidence of extortion carried out by the suspects against the victims,” said Iman. Based on the examination of witnesses and the matching of evidence, the seven suspects were proven to have restricted the liberty of the victims. “They falsely imprisoned, shackled, demanded ransom money, and restricted the fulfilment of basic needs such as withholding food for a certain period of time,” he said. Furthermore, Iman stated that the investigative team is still looking into information regarding allegations of similar criminal incidents having occurred at the same location previously. “Regarding this information, we are still conducting further investigation and gathering other evidence, so that if other similar criminal acts against different victims are found, investigators will certainly carry out maximum investigative efforts,” said Iman.