Online Gambling Operation Discovered in Upscale Jakarta Apartment

The Jakarta Police discovered an alleged online gambling den in the Taman Anggrek apartment complex in West Jakarta on Saturday, arresting the 70-year-old alleged owner and 11 university students who are alleged to have been working as his assistants. The head of the police's general crimes directorate, Sr. Comr. Carlo Brix Tewu, said the suspect, Ongko Widjojo, told police he had been running the gambling business for six months. Inside Ongko's apartment, Carlo said, police found 40 computers with flat-screen monitors, as well as two large servers in one of the bedrooms.

"The capacity of each server is somewhere in the thousands gigabytes," Carlo was quoted as saying. Carlo said it took weeks to find the apartment and arrest Ongko and his assistants.

In preliminary questioning, Ongko is alleged to have told police he could earn Rp 5 billion a week from his operation. Carlo said police would likely not charge Ongko under the Criminal Code because his alleged crime did not involve conventional gambling.

"We may charge him under the Anti Money Laundering Law but that's just one of the possibilities," he said.

A neighbor of Ongko, who asked to remain anonymous, said he did not assume the apartment was being used for illegal gambling.

"No bodyguards watched the apartment. I thought it was a regular office that dealt with a lot of university students," he said

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