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Indonesia detains three top police officers over wiretapping
Published : Wednesday, 4 November, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Observer Online Report
Indonesian police have detained three senior police officers over allegations that they illegally intercepted the phone communications of President Prabowo Subianto and other prominent figures, including government officials, political leaders and journalists.
Police said on Tuesday that the officers were being investigated for allegedly conducting illegal communications interception, accessing electronic systems without authorisation and deleting electronic data.
The detained officers are General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, identified in the report as the President's chief of staff; Inspector General Ahri Sonta Nasution, head of the National Police's legal division; and Inspector General Eko Hadi Santoso, a senior instructor at the National Police Education and Training Institute.
They are being held at the police headquarters detention centre, said Asep Safrudin, head of the police criminal investigation agency.
Speaking at a news conference at police headquarters in Jakarta on Tuesday night, Safrudin said the officers were accused of illegally intercepting phone numbers belonging to the Indonesian president, government officials, political leaders, media personnel, community leaders, non-governmental organisation workers and businesspeople.
Neither President Prabowo nor the three accused officers has publicly commented on the allegations. Attempts to reach a spokesperson for the President's chief of staff office for comment were unsuccessful.
Safrudin said police had questioned 10 witnesses and three expert witnesses in connection with the case. Investigators also seized 11 mobile phones, an iPad and four pen drives as evidence.
According to police, the alleged illegal wiretapping took place between 2025 and 2026, when Listyo was serving as the national police chief. The officers allegedly ordered the interception of phone communications without following procedures set out in the 2010 national police regulations.
Safrudin said several phone numbers had been added to the Lawful Interception Management System (LIMS) without verification. The accused officers also allegedly ordered the deletion of files containing intercepted conversations from the system in an attempt to conceal evidence and erase traces of the surveillance operation.
Authorities have yet to disclose the motive behind the alleged wiretapping, saying the investigation is ongoing.
Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said investigators had found no indication that the three serving senior police officers were involved in treason.
Speaking at a separate news conference in Jakarta on Tuesday evening, Mahendra described the allegations as a serious matter, questioning why the President's phone and those of government ministers had been monitored without a known reason.
He said the officers could face charges under Article 258 of Indonesia's new Criminal Code, which prohibits unlawful interception, recording, transmission, alteration, disruption or surveillance of private electronic communications. The offence carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
They could also face charges under Article 332 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum six-year prison term, and Article 32 of the country's Electronic Information and Transactions Law. The latter criminalises unauthorised alteration, destruction, deletion, transfer or concealment of electronic information and carries a maximum eight-year prison sentence.
- MaT
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Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Advertisement: 41053012; 01793317829, 01550707291, 01550707296
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