Indonesia arrests Filipino fugitive accused of running US$67 million investment scam

Authorities on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali arrested a Filipino fugitive accused of helping scam over US$67 million out of clients in the Philippines, officials said on Tuesday.

Hector Aldwin Pantollana, 35, widely known in the Philippines as a casino junket operator, was arrested on November 9 when an automatic gate at immigration in I Gusti Ngurah Rai international airport in Bali identified him as a wanted person using biometric data, said Saffar M. Godam, the acting Director General of immigration at Indonesia’s Immigration and Correctional Ministry.

He said Pantollana first arrived in Bali on October 10, and on October 31 Interpol released a so-called Red Notice for him, a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to detain or arrest a suspect wanted by a specific country.

Indonesian authorities brought the suspect to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, for further investigation and will deport Pantollana to the Philippines on Wednesday, Godam said.

Indonesia’s National Central Bureau Interpol chief Untung Widyatmoko said Pantollana was named as a suspect by the Philippines’ national police after he allegedly collected more than 4 billion Philippine pesos (US$67.7 million) from thousands of people for fake investments.

Widyatmoko lauded cooperation between immigration and the national police for capturing foreign criminals who have tried to hide in Indonesia.