The alleged wiretapping has put every citizen’s rights to privacy, safety and security at risk, Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai said, after an inquiry reached the highest levels of Indonesia’s police.
Investigators allege that three senior police officers ordered wiretaps while bypassing mandatory procedures, targeting President Prabowo Subianto, journalists, politicians and business people. The State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi said the alleged surveillance also extended to ministers, political party leaders and organisation figures.
An officer reported irregularities in the police wiretapping system to internal authorities on 30 October 2026, setting the investigation in motion. Investigators subsequently found indications of systematic abuse in the police wiretapping infrastructure from 2025 to 2026.
The inquiry centred on the Lawful Interception Management System, where investigators said phone numbers had been entered without verification, investigators’ request letters or authorisation orders. They also detected coordinated attempts to erase digital traces in October 2026, which they said pointed to efforts to conceal the alleged activity.
At a press conference at National Police Headquarters in Jakarta on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, the Criminal Investigation Agency, known as Bareskrim, said it had questioned 10 witnesses and three expert witnesses before naming three senior police officers as suspects. The agency identified the personnel by the initials LSP, ASN and EH after examining witnesses and seizing evidence.
Bareskrim head Asep Safrudin said the suspects had allegedly ordered interceptions outside the procedures set by National Police Chief Regulation No. 5/2010. The agency confiscated 11 mobile phones, one iPad and four flash drives.
The three key suspects are former National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Head of the Police Legal Division Insp. Gen. Ahrie Sonta, and Police Executive Instructor at the Police Leadership School Insp. Gen. Eko Hadi. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who later became the president’s chief of staff, went to the Bareskrim building on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, to submit to questioning. He is not related to the president, despite sharing his surname.
Ahrie Sonta has been held under special custody at the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters. The suspects face charges under several laws carrying possible sentences of six to ten years in prison.
As the investigation unfolded, Indonesia’s military deployed more than 20,000 troops and personnel to Jakarta. The number in the capital had surpassed 20,000 by Wednesday, according to the navy operations assistant Vice Admiral Yayan Sofiyan.
Major General Muhammad Nas, the Indonesian armed forces spokesperson, said the movement was standard procedure to maintain national security. The government has yet to establish a motive for the alleged wiretapping, Indonesia’s senior minister for legal affairs said.
The presidential palace said the alleged targeting of President Subianto could be regarded as an act tending towards treason. President Prabowo ordered National Police Chief General Suyudi Ario Seto to deal with the case objectively and transparently, in line with applicable laws and regulations.
Pigai called in Jakarta on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, for a thorough inquiry carried out professionally, transparently and accountably. Adrianus Meliala, a criminologist at the University of Indonesia and former National Police Commission commissioner, said there was strong suspicion that the surveillance served interests outside the state and the National Police. If the allegations are proved, he said, the case could be understood in the context of political manoeuvring.
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