Police Arrest Another Member of Online Hate Crime Syndicate
Jakarta. Police have arrested another alleged member of an online syndicate suspected of spreading hate speech against certain ethnic and religious groups, a police spokesman said on Thursday (31/08).
Investigators have already arrested three alleged members of the "Saracen" syndicate, whose activities on Facebook have attracted attention in recent weeks.
The fourth suspect, like the other three, is alleged to have administered several Facebook accounts to spread hate speech and fake news.
Investigators arrested the suspect in Riau on Wednesday after observing the offending Facebook accounts for some time, National Police spokesman Chief Comr. Martinus Sitompul said.
"He [the suspect] took over Saracen, changed the layout [of the Facebook group], and kept uploading posts," Martinus said at his office in Jakarta.
Police said Saracen's various Facebook accounts have attracted more than 800,000 members since being set up in November last year. The first three suspects were arrested in Jakarta, West Java and Riau between July and early this month.
"There will most likely be other suspects in this case," Martinus said. "This [group] presents real danger for national unity. The police are taking this seriously."
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