A new task force in Indonesia focused on combating online gambling has arrested seven influencers for promoting illegal platforms. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

The recently created Online Gambling Eradication Task Force in Indonesia has arrested at least seven influencers for promoting black market platforms on Instagram.

Chief Security Minister Hadi Tjahjanto announced the news of the arrests on Tuesday during a news conference in the capital, saying that five of the suspects are from Benten and the others hail from Lampung. He didn’t reveal the names of those arrested.

The other major step that local law enforcement took to combat illegal online gambling was a crackdown on three platforms targeting people in Indonesia: Liga Captura, W88, and 1xbet.

They arrested dozens of gamblers as part of this campaign, seizing RP 4.7bn ($286,161) in cash, vehicles, over 100 mobile phones, 45 debit cards, nine laptops, and dozens of bank books.

The country’s anti-money laundering body is also getting in on the action, managing to freeze more than 6,000 bank accounts of people who were engaging in online gambling.

the initial focus is protecting citizens before going after the operators

In the press conference, Chief Security Minister Hadi said that it will take some time to rid the region of online gambling and that the initial focus is protecting citizens before going after the operators themselves.

President Joko Widodo signed a decree on June 14 to create the new task force.