JAKARTA — Three top Indonesian police generals, including President Prabowo Subianto’s chief of staff, have been arrested on suspicion of wiretapping the president and dozens of other prominent figures, authorities said on Tuesday.Asep Safrudin, head of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency, said the suspects were being investigated for illegally intercepting communications, accessing electronic systems without authorization and deleting electronic data.The three are accused of illegally tapping the phones of the president, journalists, politicians and business people since 2025.Police identified the suspects as current Presidential Chief of Staff Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, National Police Legal Division head Insp. Gen. Ahrie Sonta Nasution and Insp. Gen. Eko Hadi Santoso, a senior instructor at the National Police Education and Training Institute. All three were detained at the National Police headquarters detention center, Safrudin said.“The suspects are alleged to have carried out nonprocedural or illegal tapping against the telephone numbers of the president of the Republic of Indonesia, state officials, political figures, media figures, community leaders, NGO activists and businesspeople,” Safrudin told a news conference at national police headquarters in Jakarta late Tuesday.Neither Prabowo nor the three suspects have responded publicly to the wiretapping allegations. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who is not related to the president, was national police chief until becoming the president’s chief of staff last month.Safrudin said police had questioned 10 witnesses and three expert witnesses, and investigators had seized 11 mobile phones, an iPad and four flash drives as evidence in the case.The probe is a fresh blow to Prabowo as he faces a slumping approval rating amid discontent over his policies, while battling to restore investor confidence amid record stock market selloffs, a declining currency and warnings of an equities market downgrade by index provider MSCI.Police allege the unauthorized wiretapping took place between 2025 and 2026 — during which Listyo held a position as National Police chief — with the suspects ordering wiretaps without following procedures established under a 2010 National Police regulation. Several telephone numbers were entered into the Lawful Interception Management System, or LIMS, without verification, Safrudin said.He said the suspects also recently ordered the deletion of files containing intercepted communications from the LIMS computer system, allegedly to conceal evidence and erase traces of the wiretapping operation.Authorities have not disclosed the aim or the motive of the alleged wiretapping, saying “the inquiry remains ongoing.”Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra said investigators had found no indication of treason in the case involving three active high-ranking police officers.“But when it comes to matters like this … imagine if a president were intercepted or wiretapped, or if government ministers were under surveillance, and we do not know why the wiretapping was carried out. This is not a minor issue, it is a serious matter for any country,” Mahendra said at a separate news conference Tuesday evening in Jakarta.Mahendra said the suspects would be charged under Article 258 of Indonesia’s new Criminal Code, which prohibits the unlawful interception, recording, diversion, alteration, obstruction or monitoring of nonpublic electronic communications. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.They also face charges under Article 332 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison, as well as Article 32 of Indonesia’s Electronic Information and Transactions Law, which criminalizes the unauthorized alteration, destruction, deletion, transfer or concealment of electronic information and carries a sentence of up to eight years in prison.JAKARTA — Three top Indonesian police generals, including President Prabowo Subianto’s chief of staff, have been arrested on suspicion of wiretapping the president and dozens of other prominent figures, authorities said on Tuesday.Asep Safrudin, head of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency, said the suspects were being investigated for illegally intercepting communications, accessing electronic systems without authorization and deleting electronic data.The three are accused of illegally tapping the phones of the president, journalists, politicians and business people since 2025.Police identified the suspects as current Presidential Chief of Staff Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, National Police Legal Division head Insp. Gen. Ahrie Sonta Nasution and Insp. Gen. Eko Hadi Santoso, a senior instructor at the National Police Education and Training Institute. All three were detained at the National Police headquarters detention center, Safrudin said.“The suspects are alleged to have carried out nonprocedural or illegal tapping against the telephone numbers of the president of the Republic of Indonesia, state officials, political figures, media figures, community leaders, NGO activists and businesspeople,” Safrudin told a news conference at national police headquarters in Jakarta late Tuesday.Neither Prabowo nor the three suspects have responded publicly to the wiretapping allegations. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who is not related to the president, was national police chief until becoming the president’s chief of staff last month.Safrudin said police had questioned 10 witnesses and three expert witnesses, and investigators had seized 11 mobile phones, an iPad and four flash drives as evidence in the case.The probe is a fresh blow to Prabowo as he faces a slumping approval rating amid discontent over his policies, while battling to restore investor confidence amid record stock market selloffs, a declining currency and warnings of an equities market downgrade by index provider MSCI.Police allege the unauthorized wiretapping took place between 2025 and 2026 — during which Listyo held a position as National Police chief — with the suspects ordering wiretaps without following procedures established under a 2010 National Police regulation. Several telephone numbers were entered into the Lawful Interception Management System, or LIMS, without verification, Safrudin said.He said the suspects also recently ordered the deletion of files containing intercepted communications from the LIMS computer system, allegedly to conceal evidence and erase traces of the wiretapping operation.Authorities have not disclosed the aim or the motive of the alleged wiretapping, saying “the inquiry remains ongoing.”Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra said investigators had found no indication of treason in the case involving three active high-ranking police officers.“But when it comes to matters like this … imagine if a president were intercepted or wiretapped, or if government ministers were under surveillance, and we do not know why the wiretapping was carried out. This is not a minor issue, it is a serious matter for any country,” Mahendra said at a separate news conference Tuesday evening in Jakarta.Mahendra said the suspects would be charged under Article 258 of Indonesia’s new Criminal Code, which prohibits the unlawful interception, recording, diversion, alteration, obstruction or monitoring of nonpublic electronic communications. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.They also face charges under Article 332 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison, as well as Article 32 of Indonesia’s Electronic Information and Transactions Law, which criminalizes the unauthorized alteration, destruction, deletion, transfer or concealment of electronic information and carries a sentence of up to eight years in prison.
Indonesia arrests top police generals suspected of wiretapping President Prabowo
