WhatsApp Group of 27 Sampang Rape Suspects Named 'Teh Gembul'

Police have revealed that the 27 suspects in the brutal rape of a 15-year-old girl in Sampang Regency maintained a digital chat group on WhatsApp, which they named ‘Teh Gembul’.

Sampang Police Chief AKBP Hartono said the WhatsApp group was deliberately created as a means of communication for the rape suspects.

“It is true, they created a group. Its name was Teh Gembul, their WhatsApp group,” Hartono said, as quoted by detikJatim on Sunday (19 July).

Hartono said the group named ‘Teh Gembul’ has now been abandoned by its members and is inactive.

Nevertheless, police investigators have not stopped tracing the group in order to thoroughly investigate the involvement of all perpetrators within it.

“We are still looking into the WhatsApp group. At the moment we are focused on hunting down the perpetrators who are still at large,” Hartono said.

The mass rape case that has shocked the Madurese public involved a 15-year-old girl. The victim was reportedly raped in turns by 27 males, most of them teenagers and children.

The vile acts came to light after the victim’s family reported the matter to Sampang Police. According to the investigation, the assaults occurred six times between February and June 2026 across the districts of Sampang, Camplong and Omben.

To date, police have detained 13 perpetrators, nine of whom have been transferred to the prosecutors’ office. The remaining 14 perpetrators are still being hunted and have been placed on the wanted list (DPO).