Indonesia to deport Taiwanese suspected of cyber crimes in Bali

DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) -Indonesian immigration officials said on Friday they had arrested 103 Taiwan passport holders on suspicion of running a cyber crime operation out of the island of Bali, although Taiwan said it had been told only around 14 of its citizens were involved.

The raid on Wednesday was the biggest arrest this year, the Immigration agency said.

Bali immigration director Saffar Muhammad Godam told reporters authorities would soon deport the Taiwan passport holders after arresting them in a sting operation at a villa in Bali's Tabanan district.

"The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cyber crime activities," he said, presenting laptops and routers at the press conference.

Those arrested were also suspected of misusing their visas, he added.

However, Taiwan's foreign ministry said its de facto embassy in the country had been told that of the 103 foreign nationals arrested, at least 14 were suspected of being Taiwanese.

Taiwan will send consular staff to Bali and has asked Indonesia to send them suspects back to Taiwan as soon as the investigation is complete, the ministry said in a statement.

Reuters could not immediately contact legal representatives of the arrested Taiwanese.

Godam said the scam was targeting people from overseas and not Indonesians.

(Reporting by Sultan Anshori in Jakarta and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)