IMMIGRATION officials said they arrested 103 Taiwan passport holders on suspicion of running a cybercrime operation out of the island of Bali, although Taiwan said it had been told only around 14 of its citizens were involved.
The raid on Wednesday was the biggest arrest this year, the Immigration agency said.
Bali Immigration director Saffar Muhammad Godam told reporters authorities would soon deport the Taiwan passport holders after arresting them in a sting operation at a villa in Bali’s Tabanan district.
“The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the press conference in Denpasar.
Those arrested were also suspected of misusing their visas, he added.
However, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said its de facto embassy in the country had been told that of the 103 foreign nationals arrested, at least 14 were suspected of being Taiwanese.
Taiwan will send consular staff to Bali and has asked Indonesia to send the suspects back to Taiwan as soon as the investigation is complete, the ministry said in a statement. — Reuters
