With police arresting two people accused of operating the TAHU69 portal, an Indonesian crackdown on illegal gambling and betting websites is intensifying.
Kita Indonesia Satu, a media outlet, reported that police in the capital have arrested two people. Officers allege that these individuals were the co-owners of the site.
The site went offline sometime in early to mid-April. It coincides with a police people.
The Directorate of General Criminal Investigation of Indonesian National Police said that a cyber unit managed to track down the coordinates of the operators to an address in Tangerang on April 17.
Tangerang is the sixth-largest city in Indonesia and is located on the island of Java.
The TAHU69 portal appears to have launched in January of the current year. It offered its visitors different gambling services. These include odds on soccer games. Apart from this, it also provided slots and other casino games. According to the police, the site also held illegal lotteries and offered cockfighting betting services.
Officers said the suspects are both in their late twenties. They arrested one of the men at a housing complex in Batam, Riau Islands, on April 26.
They arrested a second man on May 2 after an extended search at a commercial building in Cakung, East Jakarta. Police have retained the duo in custody.
According to a police spokesperson, the site generated monthly profits of around 100 million rupah or over $6,000.
With a hunt for accomplices continuing, metropolitan police outlined that their investigation into the site is ongoing.
The spokesperson warned that while the ongoing crackdown on online gambling operators was proving successful, new Indonesian-language gambling sites keep on springing up.
The official urged members of the public to report any sites they believe may be offering gambling services to citizens.
Citizens should also report any suspicious bank accounts they believe may be linked to gambling-related activities to a government-run online transaction fraud watchdog.
