Jakarta. Indonesian police are coordinating with the Foreign Ministry to establish a special task force aimed at tackling transnational crime in the country, an official said on Saturday.

The initiative comes amid a rise in cross-border criminal activities involving foreign nationals in Indonesia, according to Brigadier General Untung Widyatmoko, secretary of the International Relations Division of the Indonesian National Police.

Untung said the most common forms of transnational crime currently detected in Indonesia include online investment fraud, romance scams, and online gambling operations.

He said criminal syndicates that had previously been concentrated in Indochina -- particularly in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam -- were beginning to shift operations to Indonesia as law enforcement crackdowns intensified in those countries.

Authorities have seen a growing number of such cases across Indonesia, reflected in arrests and investigations involving digital transnational crimes in cities including Surabaya, Denpasar, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Batam, Sukabumi, Bogor, and Jakarta.

“We had predicted and anticipated this shift,” Untung told a press conference in Jakarta.

However, he stressed that police could not combat international criminal syndicates alone and would require support from other government agencies.

In addition to coordinating with the Foreign Ministry, police have also worked with the Immigration and Corrections Ministry to strengthen screening measures for individuals listed as subjects of interest, whether Indonesian citizens or foreigners, he said.

“If the police work alone, it certainly will not be effective,” Untung said.

Over the past two weeks, Indonesian authorities have arrested hundreds of foreign nationals in Batam, Jakarta, Sukabumi, and Bogor over alleged involvement in online scam and gambling networks.

Under Indonesian law, gambling in all forms and across all platforms is considered a criminal offense.

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