Indonesia charges 24 foreigners over illegal gold mining

JAKARTA: Indonesia has charged 24 foreign nationals as criminal suspects in an illegal gold mining operation in the country’s Maluku region, its energy ministry said on Thursday.

The suspects were allegedly building infrastructure for the illegal mines, including roads and processing facilities around the Gunung Botak area of Maluku, energy ministry official Jeffri Huwae said in a statement released late on Thursday.

Violations of the law could carry maximum prison sentences of five years, the ministry added.

The ministry did not disclose the nationalities of the suspects or the amount of gold produced, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

State news agency Antara reported last month that 24 Chinese nationals in Gunung Botak working under the sponsorship of local company PT Harmoni Alam Manise had been detained for questioning.

The ministry said 12 of the foreign nationals are still at large and outside Indonesia’s jurisdiction, while the other 12 have been detained.

Two Indonesians were also named as criminal suspects alongside the foreign nationals, it added.

Illegal mining involving foreign nationals has been reported previously. Police in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region arrested four Chinese nationals in the Senggi district last year, Antara reported.