- Illustrative photo.
SINGAPORE: An Indonesian man linked to unlawful gambling activities was caught with ill-gotten gains totalling US$20,000 (nearly S$27,000 according to court documents) at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal in February.
David Hermanto, 35, had taken a ferry from Batam, Indonesia, to Singapore and had planned to transport the money to Cambodia, where he was based.
His journey ended when an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer conducted a check and found the money in his possession.
The amount exceeded the prescribed limit of $20,000 or its equivalent in foreign currencies, the court heard.
David was sentenced to three months and two weeks’ jail on March 27 after he pleaded guilty to offences including dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Low told the court that in 2022, David got to know a fellow Indonesian man known as “Hans”.
After that, he started working with Hans and Han’s friends on various digital marketing projects.
Hans, who is also known as “Suryadi”, and David later received job offers from Cambodia-based unlawful remote gambling operators who asked the pair to create advertisements for them.
The two men accepted the offers and shifted their business operations to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, to evade detection from the Indonesian authorities.
From Sihanoukville, the pair and other people they had recruited worked together to produce promotional videos at the gambling operators’ request.
The videos, which were uploaded on Facebook and Instagram, featured catchy tunes and large text messages in Bahasa Indonesia with information on how to access the gambling websites.
On average, Hans and David received requests to make promotional videos from around 10 to 20 unlawful remote gambling operators.
The pair were paid around US$100 to US$300 for each video created. The court heard that they earned up to US$20,000 monthly.
The earnings were initially remitted directly into David’s bank account. He would then withdraw the money whenever he was in Indonesia.
To evade the Indonesian authorities, the two men later instructed the gambling operators to remit their earnings to third parties in Indonesia.
Hans or David would then physically collect the cash from the third parties at various locations in Indonesia before transporting their ill-gotten gains to Cambodia.
The money would then be split among the pair and their staff.
On Feb 13, 2025, Hans asked David to meet a man in Pekanbaru, Indonesia, to collect their earnings.
David travelled to Batam after receiving 326 million rupiah from the man. David then went to a money changer and received US$20,000 in return.
On Feb 17, he boarded a Singapore-bound ferry and arrived at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal at around 1.40pm.
An ICA officer noticed that David was carrying a packet of foreign cigarettes and decided to conduct a check on him.
When asked, David said he had nothing to declare. The officer then found the US$20,000 in the offender’s possession.
He told his superiors about his discovery and the police were alerted soon after. - The Straits Times/ANN
