Two held for illegal telecom business
Two held for illegal telecom business
JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested two foreigners for
allegedly running an illegal international telecommunications
operation in Jakarta, causing many companies to lose about Rp 2
billion (US$833,333).
Police are hunting for 13 other suspects.
The city police chief, Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata, said yesterday
one of the men arrested April 25 was Malaysian and the other
Pakistani. They were arrested in West Jakarta.
"The Malaysian, Ng Chee Leong, and Pakistani, Hasnat Ahmad
Varya, have run their businesses in International Direct Dial
(IDD) services here for more than three months," Hamami said.
Providing services for Malaysian customers, the two men used
10 illegally assembled hand phones provided with a three-party
telecommunication system to back up their illegal base stations
here, Hamami said.
"The two men were charged under Article 363 of the Criminal
Code for stealing, and 1989 decree No. 3 on telecommunications,
for illegally operating IDD base stations," he said.
Hamami said the two men used other people's numbers and
hijacked telecommunications channels managed by legal telephone
operators.
"The two have been cheating and have caused huge financial
losses to many people, IDD service providers and cellular phone
companies in Indonesia and Malaysia," Hamami said.
The West Jakarta police precinct chief, Lt. Col. Bakat
Purwanto, said Leong and Varya set up the base stations at
several places in West Jakarta, including Hotel Permata and
rented rooms on Jl. Mangga Besar.
Bakat said coordination with the Malaysian and Pakistani
Embassies was still needed to further investigate the two.
"The two are believed to be the masterminds behind this fraud
case," Bakat said.
He said police were cooperating with Malaysian police to catch
13 other suspects who acted as agents in Malaysia.
Bakat said the duties of the 13 agents were to find Malaysian
customers who needed IDD services to countries like Bangladesh,
Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Pakistan, and the
United States.
"These agents deposited the money, which they collected from
the Malaysian customers, in Leong and Varya's bank accounts,"
Bakat said. (cst)