JAKARTA – The Bali Police’s Internal Affairs Division (Propam) detained two low-ranking police officers on Wednesday in connection with the alleged extortion of a Colombian tourist.
The incident came to light as the National Police face widespread public scrutiny for a separate extortion scandal at the 2024 Djakarta Warehouse Project (DWP) music festival last month.

Bali Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Ariasandy said investigators had made the arrest after finding sufficient evidence that the two officers, identified only as First Adj. Insp. GKS and First Adj. Insp. S, had violated the police’s code of ethics.

“We are still questioning both officers. If they are found guilty, they will be punished in accordance with the prevailing rules,” he said in a statement on Tuesday, as quoted by Kompas.

According to Ariasandy, the incident took place on Jan. 5, when a female Colombian tourist, identified only by her initials SGH, visited Kuta Police Station in Badung regency to report a robbery.

She told officers GKS and S that an unidentified individual had snatched her iPhone 14 Pro Max on Jl. Uluwatu in Badung regency. The officers directed her to file a report with the South Kuta Police, as the incident fell within their jurisdiction.

SGH explained that she was unable to do so because she was in a hurry to catch a flight home. She requested that GKS and S issue a lost property report instead so that she could file an insurance claim upon returning to her home country.

The two officers agreed to issue the report, but before providing the document, they allegedly took SGH to a separate room and demanded Rp 200,000 (US$12) as “a token of appreciation”, which she eventually handed over.

The incident went viral on social media after local taxi driver and content creator @balibackseat shared a video about SGH’s experience at the police station.

The video garnered hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok and Instagram, sparking a backlash from internet users.

The incident took place just a month after Jakarta police officers allegedly extorted money from dozens of Malaysians attending the DWP music festival at the Jakarta International Expo (JIExpo) in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, from Dec. 13 to 15.

The allegations surfaced amid viral posts claiming that police officers had forced 45 foreign festivalgoers to take drug tests. The officers allegedly threatened to charge the foreigners with criminal offenses unless they paid them, even though their drug tests had come back negative.

The case received significant attention from the Malaysian media. Outlets reported that the police officers extorted some Rp 2.5 billion (US$153,975) from the concertgoers.

Three of the 28 officers were dishonorably discharged after an ethics commission found them guilty of violating the police’s code of ethics, while the remaining 25 were demoted for a period of between one and eight years.

Among the dishonorably discharged officers was Sr. Comr. Donald Parlaungan Simanjuntak, the Jakarta Police’s narcotics chief, for being aware of the extortion at the DWP festival but taking no action to prevent it or hold the officers accountable.

Two other members of the narcotics division who were dishonorably discharged were subdirector Adj. Sr. Come. Malvino Edward Yusticia and Adj. Comr. Yudhy Triananta Syaeful.

Both Donald and Yudhy have appealed the ruling.

The National Police said the sanctions reflected the force’s commitment to strictly enforcing regulations.

The National Police have experienced a decline in public trust in recent years amid numerous reports of police violence, extrajudicial killings and other institutional issues.

Asia News Network/The Jakarta Post