Indonesian President and dignitaries were illegally monitored, and three suspects, including the former police chief, were arrested

The Indonesian police confirmed that they had arrested three suspects suspected of illegally spying on President Prabowo Subianto and several political figures; local authoritative media later identified one of the arrested persons as none other than the recently resigned former National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo. (AFP)

A major eavesdropping storm broke out in Indonesian politics! The Indonesian police confirmed that they had arrested three suspects suspected of illegally spying on President Prabowo and many political figures; local authoritative media subsequently identified that one of the arrested persons involved was the former chief of the national police who had just stepped down.

Singapore's CNA reported that Asep Safrudin, director of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Indonesian National Police, announced at a press conference on Tuesday (3rd) evening that the three suspects were codenamed LSP, ASN and EH, but their full names were not announced. However, local media such as Compass immediately identified the LSP as Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the former police chief who was transferred to the presidential chief of staff last month. The other two were Ahrie Sonta Nasution, head of the police legal department, and Major General Eko Hadi Santoso.

Asup pointed out based on witness testimony that this illegal wiretapping occurred between 2025 and 2026, and the surveillance targets covered President Prabowo, senior government officials, politicians, media, NGO leaders and business bosses; he emphasized that these calls were intercepted without following procedures at all and had nothing to do with any statutory investigation or law enforcement actions.

The whole case came to light because internal police officers noticed illegal activities and took the initiative to report it on October 30. The police said that in October before the case was exposed, the suspect ordered the destruction of communication files from the police's "Lawful Communications Monitoring and Management System" (LIMS) in an attempt to destroy evidence and cover up the crime.

Listio has been in charge of the Indonesian police force for more than five years since 2021, spanning two governments. On October 1 this year, he was suddenly replaced by Prabowo as chief of staff during the cabinet reshuffle. The police have currently detained three people in the National Police Headquarters Detention Center, and another person codenamed SU is being questioned as a witness. The entire case was investigated on suspicion of illegal eavesdropping, unauthorized system access, and deletion of electronic information. The three crimes are punishable by up to 10 years, 6 years, and 8 years in prison respectively.