Indonesia detains 103 Taiwanese over alleged cybercrime

Kalimantan, June 28 (CNA) A total of 103 Taiwanese individuals have been detained due to their alleged involvement in cybercrime at a villa in Bali, Indonesia, local immigration authorities said on Friday.

At a press conference, officials said they detained the Taiwanese individuals - 12 women and 91 men - after a raid at a villa on the resort island of Bali on Thursday.

Cited by international news media, all the Taiwan nationals will be deported soon, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, said.

He added that the authorities have seized 450 cellphones and multiple computers, printers and generators as part of the ongoing investigation to determine whether the group has ties to international criminal syndicates.

On Thursday, Indonesian immigration authorities said in a statement that after monitoring the villa earlier that day, they confirmed multiple foreign nationals at the location might be involved in cybercrime and violations of immigration regulations, leading to the arrest of 103 people.

At the time,the Indonesian authorities were only able to confirm that 14 of the individuals were Taiwanese with the identities of the others still unconfirmed.

In response, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday that the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TECO) in Indonesia will send personnel to visit the detainees and maintain close contact with Indonesian officials, seeking to ensure they are deported to Taiwan.

TECO officials told CNA that they have confirmed the process of the case and hope to send the Taiwanese nationals back to Taiwan after the investigation is completed according to usual procedures.