Indonesia detains police generals suspected of wire-tapping president's phones

Indonesian police say they have detained three senior police generals suspected of illegally wiretapping the phones of President Prabowo Subianto and dozens of other prominent figures.

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 authorisation and deleting electronic data.

Police identified the suspects as presidential chief of staff General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, National Police legal division head Inspector General Ahrie Sonta Nasution, and Inspector General Eko Hadi Santoso, a senior instructor at the National Police Education and Training Institute. 

All three were detained at the National Police headquarters detention centre, Mr Safrudin said.

"The suspects are alleged to have carried out non-procedural 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," Mr Safrudin told a news conference at National Police headquarters in Jakarta late yesterday.

Neither Mr Prabowo nor the three suspects have responded publicly to the wiretapping allegations.

A spokesperson for the presidential chief of staff's office could not be reached for comment.

Mr 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.

Police alleged the unauthorised wiretapping took place between 2025 and 2026, 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, Mr 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 is 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.

Mr 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 non-public 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 criminalises the unauthorised alteration, destruction, deletion, transfer or concealment of electronic information and carries a sentence of up to eight years in prison.

In 2009, Australian intelligence tried to listen in to the mobile phone of then-Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, according to documents leaked by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The incident was made public in 2013 and sparked a diplomatic uproar.

Indonesia's former vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, who was also allegedly targeted by Australian surveillance, demanded an apology from former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott.