Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government agreed to expatriate Hector Aldwin Pantollana, a Philippines national on the Interpol wanted list, in exchange for the extradition of Handoyo Salman, an Indonesian citizen linked to an online gambling case.
At a press conference on Pantollana's extradition in Jakarta on Tuesday, Secretary of the National Central Bureau of Interpol, Indonesia Brigadier General Untung Widyatmoko affirmed that the National Police (Polri) has been hunting down Indonesian online gambling actors on the run abroad.
"We are pursuing exchanges of (foreign) prisoners for criminals involved in Indonesia's current hot issue, which is online gambling," he informed.
Pantollana is on the wanted list of the Philippines police. He turned fugitive to avoid legal proceedings in a casino scam he allegedly perpetrated in his home country.
On November 9, 2024, Directorate General of Immigration apprehended the Filipino fugitive in Bali province. According to the plan, he is set to be sent back to the Philippines tomorrow (November 27) to resume his prosecution.
Meanwhile, Salman, who was arrested by Filipino authorities on October 31, is a suspect in an online gambling case involving the W88 website.
Owing to coordination between Polri's Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) and the Philippines government, the extradition of Salman has been carried out. The fugitive landed in Indonesia via Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, Banten, on Friday.
In Tangerang on the same day, a representative of Bareskrim's Directorate of Cyber Crimes, Grand Commissioner Jeffri Dian, said that Salman served as W88's regional manager for Indonesia.
"Polri's Bareskrim has picked up our fugitive, identified as HS or Ahan, who is involved in the W88 online gambling case exposed by our Cyber Crimes Directorate in May," he said.
With Salman's arrest, the total number of suspects in the W88 case has reached eight, with the other seven facing prosecution at the District Court of Batam.
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Translator: Fath Putra, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
