West Java Police Collaborate with Meta to Track Suspect in Bandung Woman's Confinement Case

The West Java Regional Police (Polda Jabar) are collaborating with technology company Meta to help trace the digital trail of a suspect in the confinement and abuse of a woman, identified by the initials YTR (29), in Bandung Regency, West Java, who remains a fugitive. West Java Police Chief Inspector General Rudi Setiawan said the cooperation was undertaken to detect the whereabouts of the suspect, Taufik Hidayat, through his social media activity. “We are also cooperating with a foreign party, namely in the cyber field, Meta, which manages data on social media. We are cooperating to detect his social media presence so it can indicate his whereabouts,” Rudi said in Bandung on Tuesday. Rudi stated that Polda Jabar has formed a joint team involving the Cyber Directorate, the General Criminal Investigation Directorate, and the Narcotics Directorate to thoroughly investigate the case. According to him, investigators suspect the individual is not only involved in confinement and abuse but may also be linked to other criminal offences. “We formed a joint team from all investigation directorates within Polda Jabar because we see the spectrum of this case is quite broad. There is a suspicion of the perpetrator’s involvement in various other criminal acts,” he said. From preliminary investigations, police have learned that the suspect is a former debt collector. Investigators are currently tracing the suspect’s employment history by requesting information from several companies he was previously associated with. “We will trace all of his track record within that debt collector role. There are several companies we have identified and we will request information regarding his whereabouts and behaviour,” he said. Furthermore, he said a forensic medical team has identified a number of injuries sustained by the victim. Rudi stated that the examination results indicate damage to several parts of the victim’s body, allegedly caused by violence during the confinement period. “The forensic doctor has been able to identify body organs that are damaged and non-functional, including the eyes, then the lips, there are slash marks from a sharp object on the legs, then cigarette burns and so on,” Rudi revealed. He conveyed that these findings will form part of the evidence to uncover the actions allegedly perpetrated by the suspect against the victim over the past three years.