Indonesia has announced it has arrested 103 Taiwanese nationals for allegedly running a cybercrime operation out of the island of Bali, media reports said.
The arrests were reportedly made following a June 26 operation.
“They committed scamming or fraud targeting foreigners in foreign countries, such as Malaysia,” Director of Immigration Supervision and Enforcement at Bali Immigration, Saffar Muhammad Godam, was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.
Godam, however, confirmed that they were not involved in hacking resulting in disruption to the National Data Center (PDN) that affected immigration services on June 20.
He said the arrested people were not involved with online gaming and human smuggling.
All the 103 foreigners, which include 91 men and 12 women, have been temporarily held at the Denpasar Immigration Detention Center (Rudenim).
According to reports, they will be deported later.
“They carry out activities in Indonesia but the victims are in other countries. It is difficult to fulfill the criminal elements in this case,” Godam told Antara.
Meanwhile, Head of the Immigration Supervision Team at Bali Immigration, Arief Eka Riyanto, stated that they came to Bali in the 2023-2024 period, with limited stay visas and holiday visas.
“Their visas are still valid and all of them are over 18 years old,” he told Antara.
